Greta Thunberg event livestreamed thanks to OU

The Edinburgh International Book Festival has announced that in-person tickets to its event featuring Greta Thunberg on Sunday 13 August have sold out in less than 24 hours. Due to popular demand and thanks to support from The Open University, the event will now be live streamed, so audiences can watch from anywhere in the world.

Access to streaming for this event, which is presented in association with Edinburgh International Festival, will be made available from 12 noon on Wednesday 14 June on the EdBookFest website, along with information about the 2023 Book Festival programme.

Susan Stewart, Director at The Open University in Scotland, said:

“The Book Festival’s approach to opening up access to books, literature and current debate complements our mission at The Open University to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We are also particularly dedicated to contributing to social and environmental justice by placing sustainability at the heart of our teaching, research and knowledge exchange. I am proud that The Open University in Scotland is sponsoring this important event with Greta Thunberg and delighted that it will now reach an even wider audience via the livestream.”

Nick Barley, Director at Edinburgh International Book Festival, said:

“When Greta Thunberg’s event with Gemma Cairney sells out in less than a day, it’s clear that audiences are keen to play an active part in the climate conversation. That’s why I’m so pleased we can also live stream the event. I am incredibly grateful to The Open University for allowing us to open this event up to even more people from all over the world.”

The event, titled It’s Not Too Late to Change the World, will take place at the Edinburgh Playhouse on Sunday 13 August and will be chaired by writer and broadcaster Gemma Cairney.

The event will begin with a speech from Greta Thunberg, followed by an in-depth conversation about her activism and The Climate Book, the 2022 publication that saw her call on the wisdom of more than one hundred experts, from Indigenous leaders and renowned scientists to activists and people from around the world who are most affected by climate change.

This will be Greta’s Thunberg’s first public appearance in Scotland since her visit to Glasgow for COP26, the UN’s Climate Conference in November 2021. As part of the event, 300 tickets have been made available to local community groups and young people, and a special concessionary ticket price of 50% was made available to those under 26 to encourage them to become a part of the climate conversation.

For more information on Edinburgh International Book Festival visit: https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/

Photo of Greta Thunberg by Kim Jakobsen.

12 June 2023