Dozens of authors are asking the Edinburgh International Book Festival to cut ties with Baillie Gifford, the investment management firm that co-sponsors the annual event, the BBC reports.
Zadie Smith, Gary Younge, and Ali Smith are three of the more than 50 writers who signed an open letter asking the festival, which runs from Aug. 12 to Aug. 28, to drop Baillie Gifford as a sponsor. The authors object to the firm’s investments in fossil fuels.
"Edinburgh International Book Festival wouldn't burn books, so why are they OK with burning the planet?" said Mikaela Loach, one of the letter’s signatories.
The festival has already lost one author who had been scheduled to appear: climate activist Greta Thunberg, who pulled out of the event earlier this month.
Baillie Gifford is also the sponsor of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, the annual British literary award. The most recent winner of that prize, the Guardian reports, is Katherine Rundell, who also signed the open letter to the festival.
In a statement posted on its website, festival director Nick Barley responded to the open letter, writing, “I hope you will talk with me and my colleagues, and discuss the complexities of this issue with us. Surely the best place for such conversations is at Book Festivals like ours. I invite you to the festival because I believe in the power of your words. I am keen to learn from you about this; to hear your expertise; to understand your perspective. I promise to consider what you say carefully, and keep an open mind about how to proceed.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
