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It's not just comedy overshadowing other comedy at the festival. The Fringe is so big, it sometimes overshadows other festivals.

So it is worth flagging up the alternatives including the ever-expanding People's Festival.

Originally set up by Hamish Henderson as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, which many felt in a few short years had begun to sideline homegrown work, it was revived again in 2002 and has been running annually ever since.

It's now not so much an alternative to the mainstream festivals - as an addition to them.

There's an exhibition of the history of the festival running alongside a new art show - Let the People Speak - in North Edinburgh Arts Centre.

There's also a show inside Saughton Prison - no jokes about captive audiences please - an Ian Rankin sponsored Rebus tour of the capital, a comedy night in association with The Stand, a guided walk round Radical Auld Reekie and an evening celebrating the protest songs of the people in St Leonards. Phew.

And Dr Fred Freeman - a celebrated authority on Hamish Henderson (he recently broadcast an hour-long documentary about Henderson on Radio Four) will deliver this year's Hamish Henderson Memorial Lecture.

More details from their website