Day 13

First, a couple of discoveries.

When the bookshop staff came into the signing tent, they found that the Ian McEwan books – ready for his events today and yesterday – had mysteriously arranged themselves into artful stacks. Further investigation confirmed that this was the work of the warehouse staff, who delivered the books to the signing tent and happened to be in a particularly arty mood.

Mark Haddon, author of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time', confessed today that he believes himself to be a fairly poor writer by nature. He says his first drafts are awful. What he is, however, is a very good “editor”. It takes him endless drafts to reach the glowing quality we enjoy in his books. He explains that the process is like combing a very dirty Afghan Hound. It starts off a mess, but gradually gets smoother and tidier and more beautiful until it's quite pristine.

Recently I got my hands on four tickets to Susannah Clapp at the Book Festival, so I can brandish them gleefully as a prize to the winner of... a Book Festival caption competition!

There are so many impressed “hmm!” noises at Chris Close's portraits around Charlotte Square Gardens that it's like having a bee stuck in your ear. Today I picked out one of my favourites, and am opening it your captions. Tomorrow, Chris himself will help me pick the winner.

Susannah Clapp's event is this Sunday the 26^th at 3.30PM. She has penned a remarkable book on the late Angela Carter, one of the most influential artists of the last fifty years. Susannah will be discussing her book and her moving, fascinating meetings with Carter.

As if that wasn't a tempting enough prize, the event is sponsored by the Folio Society, a company renowned for its beautiful and creative cover designs. And for its generosity, which means – yes that's right – goody bags. Expect free book vouchers and other such treats.

So, on with the picture!

This is Chris' photograph of Professors Frank Close and Peter Higgs (as in Higgs boson).

You can contribute your captions on Twitter (with hashtag #edbookfestcomp) or here in the comments section. If you do use the comments section, please leave your full name or/and email address.

This competition will close at 12 noon tomorrow (Friday)!

Good luck!