From 11th to 27th August the Edinburgh International Book Festival takes place in Scotland, one of the biggest literary festivals in the UK. However this year the event is mired in controversy after the Home Office refused visas for a dozen authors who were planning to attend.
The festival features appearances from more than nine hundred authors from fifty-five countries routinely helps authors with visa applications, but over the last few years organisers are reporting a jump in refusals.
Around a dozen authors have gone through the difficult process to obtain a visa this year and been refused, despite the festival almost being upon us. These authors are from the Middle East and African countries and have all had their visas refused at least once with several applications still outstanding.
Festival organisers have drawn on the helps of MPs, Ambassadors and senior members of the British Council and Home Office in the hope of overturning these decisions so that the authors can attend, says festival director Nick Barley.
He also said that the problems are becoming systematic, something echoed by Peter Gabriel, Womad Festival organiser who last week criticised the UK foreign policy after several music acts could not perform due to visa problems. Gabriel asked ‘Do we really want a white-breaded Brexited flatland? A country that is losing the will to welcome the world?’ And we’re inclined to agree.
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