It’s Book Festival Launch Day!

Today we launched our exciting new programme at a special event in Edinburgh Central Library.

Over two hundred journalists, publishers, authors and other special guests gathered in the beautiful Reference Library to hear our Festival Director Nick Barley, and Janet Smyth our Children & Education Programme Director reveal the tantalising details of this year’s line up.

Highlights to look forward to include:

• A host of international writing talent such as exiled Chinese Nobel Laureate, Gao Xingjian and American literary giant Robert Coover.

• Home-grown talent in the form of A L Kennedy, Alexander McCall Smith and Louise Welsh.

• A celebration of new writing with the Newton First Book Award, where the public get to select the winner.

• A world-first all-star read through of Alasdair Gray’s Fleck, featuring a stellar cast of authors including Ali Smith, Will Self and Alasdair himself.

• A strand of events for children specially curated by the new Children’s Laureate, Julia Donaldson.

• Non-fiction treats from Evan Davis, Sarah Brown and Jonathan Agnew.

• A hand-picked selection of the very best illustrators including Axel Scheffler, Shaun Tan, Emily Gravett, and this year’s Illustrator in Residence, Nick Sharratt.

• The return of our free, late-night literary shenanegins  - Unbound in the Spiegeltent.

You can download our brochure and browse events on our website. We hope you’ll love it as much as we do!

 

The reference library provided a fitting backdrop for the launch

Children and Education Programme Director Janet Smyth introduces the RBS Children’s Programme

 

Book Festival Director Nick Barley reveals the inspiration behind this year’s programme

 

Our beautiful brochure, hot off the press