About the Festival
Read about Borders Book Festival and the people behind it
It all started in June 2004, when Alistair Moffat had the idea of holding a small literary gathering in Melrose. Alistair was joined that year by Paula Ogilvie and, what started with a few speakers and an audience of 400, has turned into a 4-day extravaganza with an audience of more than 34,000 attending in 2019. We’ve certainly come a long way since that first year in the old Wynd Theatre in the centre of Melrose which saw the beginning of that great partnership between Alistair and Paula who are still running things today (with the support of a very small team of dedicated helpers).
We moved from the Wynd Theatre, via the Corn Exchange and the Melrose Festival Ball Marquee to Harmony Garden, which has been home to the festival since 2007. In 2015 we expanded our offering to include the Harmony Orchard where we created a festival village with an event marquee, storytelling tent, bar and a range of tipis, stretch tents and vintage vehicles including an old fire engine selling hot dogs, a crème brûlée van, ice cream served from a vintage bicycle and lots of coffee…
Visit the Support the Festival page to learn more about how you or your business can help support the Borders Book Festival.
Who’s Who
DIRECTORS
MICHAEL MOORE
Chairman
ALISTAIR MOFFAT
Director
PAULA OGILVIE
Director
VIVIAN FRENCH
Director
LYNSEY GRAHAM
Director
JAMES HUTCHISON
Director
SUSAN WINDRAM
Director
HONORARY PATRONS
RORY BREMNER
JAMES NAUGHTIE
ELEANOR UPDALE
PATRONS
THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF BUCCLEUCH
JOHANNES AND ANTONIA DE GIER
FRANCIS & CATHERINE HAMILTON
ROBERT AND MAXINE SLOSS
FESTIVAL STAFF
OLIVIA McLEAN
Festival Operations Manager
MAIRI MacLELLAN
Festival Administrator
CANDY RAFFERTY
Sponsorship and Fundraising
HILARY BUCHAN
Hospitality & Website
Join our team!
Be part of one of the country’s top literature festivals
Our 2020 festival is going digital due to Covid-19, but we plan to return to Harmony Garden 17-20 June 2021.
Do you enjoy working in a fun and dynamic team? Love learning about new things? Big fan of books? If so, why not join our team for 2021?
If you’d like to apply to work at next year’s festival, please email us your CV and covering letter.
