2022 Edinburgh Fringe
Barry Ferns crowdfunding Fringe history book
Barry Ferns is testing potential interest in a Fringe history book with a crowdfunding campaign.
The comic and promoter, who founded the Comedians' Choice Awards, says: "I'm hoping to write A Biography of The Fringe: A People's History Of The Fringe, but I'm Kickstarter-ing it because while I know I personally would love a book that tells these stories and is a coda for the Fringe - I don't know if anyone else would. So I'm asking the world that question, just to see."
The campaign is currently seeking support via the Kickstarter platform.
He explains: "Each year, a handful of Fringe performers go on to become household names. But most of them, you've never heard of. Self funded, often unknown, without agents or publicists. Armed with nothing but hopes, jokes, a play, a Marxist storytelling caravan, a revolutionary new dance move, or a strangely sexual puppet ... They're the people that make the fringe ... the Fringe.
"Hi! I'm Barry Ferns, Comedian. And I'm one of those dreamers.
"I'm hoping to write a history of the Fringe through the untold stories of those people. A people's history of the Fringe, supported, I hope, by people who love the Fringe.
"The Fringe is long overdue a proper biography, and boy does it need one - a coda; an explainer; a pre-history; and in the year of its 75th anniversary - it feels the ideal moment to give voice to those stories."
Support for the project can be pledged from as little as £1, with pledges from £5 being rewarded with copies of the book, if completed.
Ferns will also be performing atop the city's geological landmark, Arthur's Seat, this Saturday 20th August at 2pm.