Edinburgh Festival 2006 Books

A chance to preview and buy many of the Scottish books being launched or promoted at the 2006 Edinburgh International Book Festival. Each of the books below are from Scottish authors or poets, or are about Scotland. To help you plan you festival reading, we've arranged the list day-by-day. All the featured books were 20% off RRP on BooksfromScotland.com.
A separate page lists all the Scottish Children's events.

11.30am - Kate Atkinson launches her new novel One Good Turn at the first Meet the Author event of the Festival.

12.30pm - Denise Mina explores the brutal criminal underbelly of Glasgow in her latest novel, The Dead Hour. Denise is joined by Stella Duffy.

4.30pm - The Launch of Irvine Welsh's new novel of Obsession and food, The Bedroom Secrets of The Master Chefs.

8.00pm - Set in the Lake District, this psychological thriller ties a present-day murder with the mutiny on the Bounty - and the poetry of William Wordsworth.

Sunday 13 August

11.30am - As well as reading from his latest novel, Christopher Brookmyre will be giving an exclusive preview of his forthcoming new book, The Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks. This event is repeated on Saturday 19th at 8pm.

Monday 14 August

10.15am - Susie Maguire, writer, editor and comedian, is joined by surprise guests reading from the Little Black Dress anthology of sparky tales on the classic black dress.

8.30pm - Journalist turned travel writer Nick Thorpe tried hitching his way around the Scottish coasts, on barges, boats and oracles. This is his story.

Tuesday 15 August

12.30pm - James McCarthy tells the true story of Selim Aga, a Sudanese slave who was brought to Scotland, educated, and eventually lectured the fashionable audiences of London. McCarthy is joined by Georgine Howell, who tells the story of archaeologist and traveller Gertrude Bell.

12.00 noon - Authors Phillip Cole and Michael Gove discuss terrorism, fundamentalism and the true nature of evil. And on BooksfromScotland.com Phillip Cole introduces his book and today's event in The Myth of Evil.

10.15am - Laura Hird will be reading from her forthcoming short story collection Hope and Other Urban Tales. She will be joined by Ewan Morrison and his collection, The Last Book You Read and Other Stories

8.30pm - Alan Spence weaves fact with fiction into the story of Thomas Blake Glover, the man from Aberdeen who, 1858, becomes a trader in Japan and helped shape the modern Japanese nation.

10.15 - Scottish poet Robin Robertson is joined by David Harsent in a morning of poetry. Robertson will be reading from his latest collection, Swithering.

6pm - Three first time novelists meet to discuss their work; Aberdein's award-winning Amande's Bed, Bennett's comic Sea Otters Gambolling in the Wild, Wild Surf, and Ledgard's unearthly Giraffe.

7.00pm - Although from Northern Island, Bernard MacLaverty has been resident in Scotland for years and is firmly a part of the Scottish literary scene. Here he reads from his new short story collection, Matters of Life and Death.

8.30pm - Already a firm favourite with BooksfromScotland.com, John Burnside's autobiographical A Lie About My Father is one of the most talked about books of the year. John is joined by Kirsty Gunn and her latest novel, The Boy and the Sea.

5.00pm - The launch of Andrew O'Hagan's latest novel, Be Near Me. An English priest moves to a small Scottish town, but struggles to make sense of the class and religious divides which surround him.

7.00pm - Praise for Ali Smith's The Accidental has been unending, and she has been shortlisted for just about every literary prize going with her haunting story of a fractured family and a strange spirit.

6.00pm - Bruce Durie re-introduces us to the Victorian detective Dick Donovan, a Glasgow precursor to Sherlock Holmes. Drurie will be joined by William Sutton, who is launching his new novel, The Worms of Euston Square.

10.15 - Three new novels to start the day. Ron Butlin's Belonging join's Andrew Drummond's inventive novel A Handbook of Volapük, and Jenni Daiches launches her beautiful Letters from the Great Wall.

11.30am - Wiliam McIlvanney launches his first new novel in over a decade, Weekend.

10.15 - Three very different novels to start the day. Michael Cannon is launching his lyrical debut novel Lachlan's War; Nick Brooks reads from his second novel The Good Death and Alan Bissett introduces us to his small-town superhero, The Incredible Adam Spark.

3.30pm - Scepticism or spirituality? Graham Dunstan Martin and Stuart Sim discuss the validity materialism and rationality. Plus, in an exclusive for BooksfromScotland.com, Dunstan Martin introduces his book in Matter Verses Mind.

4.00pm - Charles McKean unveils the history of the Tay and Forth Bridges, and their role in the 19th-century 'railway wars'.

6pm - Three Scottish crime writers meet to discuss their work, including Ken McClure's latest novel, Past Lives.

8.30pm - Valerie Gillies, Jim Reid and James Robertson meet to discuss two of Scotland's finest women poets, Marion Angus and Violet Jacob, and to launch a new collection of their work, Voices From Their Ain Countrie.

3.30pm - Two of Scotland's best-loved authors launch their new books at a joint event. Isla Dewar reads from The Consequences of Marriage, while Laura Marney reads from Only Strange People Go To Church Nowadays.

7.00pm - A new novel from Maggie O'Farrell, set between the 1930s and the present day, and in Edinburgh and colonial India.

7.30pm - Three new books from Scottish writers. Simon Biggam's These Are Only Words, Stephen Thompson's forthcoming Meet Me Under the Westway and the launch of Doug Johnstone's Tombstoning make up the trilogy.

4.00pm - Andy Hall discusses nature and environment and how those landscapes were photographed for his beautiful collection, A Sense of Belonging to Scotland: Further Journeys.

5.00pm - Shirley Spear, head chef and proprietor of one of Scotland's - indeed, the world's - greatest restaurants, shares her stories.

12.30pm - Crime writer and Lin Anderson is joined by poet, playwright and novelist Des Dillon to launch his new collection of stories, They Scream When You Kill Them.

8.30pm - The eagerly awaited launch of Louise Welsh's third novel, a book of magic, mystery, sex and death from one of Scotland's most significant new writers.

8.30pm - Norma NicLeóid will be reading from her novel Dìleas Donn. She will be joined by Eilís Ní Dhuibhne whose recent novella has been translated from Irish to Scottish Gaelic, Ùpraid.

12.30pm - Maggie Fergusson discusses the life and work of the 'Orkney Bard' George MacKay Brown, revealed in her recently biography, George MacKay Brown: The Life.

5.30pm - In Preferred Lies: A Journey to the Heart of Scottish Golf, poet and novelist Andrew Greig has written perhaps the first truly literary celebration of golf.