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Authors - Edinburgh Walking Tour
Edinburgh

From Stevenson's New Town childhood to the café where Rowling wrote Potter, ten addresses that trace four centuries of Edinburgh literary genius.

10 stops · 4.8 km

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Every Stop Has a Story

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle was born on this spot in 1859, and a bronze Sherlock Holmes now keeps watch over Picardy Place.

Robert Louis Stevenson

The New Town townhouse where a young, sickly Robert Louis Stevenson spent much of his childhood.

Sir Walter Scott

The ground-floor den where Sir Walter Scott wrote many of the Waverley novels.

Kenneth Grahame

The birthplace of Kenneth Grahame, the man who dreamed up Toad Hall and The Wind in the Willows.

David Hume

The Old Town courtyard that was philosopher David Hume's Edinburgh home for nearly a decade, including the year of his famous public quarrel with Rousseau.

James Boswell

The court where James Boswell lived and welcomed Dr Johnson at the start of their famous tour of the Highlands and Islands.

J.K. Rowling

The cafe where a struggling J.K. Rowling worked on the first Harry Potter book, open again after a long closure following a fire in 2021.

Ian Rankin

The Marchmont flat Ian Rankin gave Inspector Rebus, directly across the street from the window where he sat writing.

Muriel Spark

Muriel Spark was born and grew up here, a short walk from the school that became Marcia Blaine's in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Alexander McCall Smith

The Merchiston home where Alexander McCall Smith still writes the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels.

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