EIBF 2008: Friday 15th August

A super-energising start to the day with three spirited Scottish authors. Anne Donovan, shortlisted for the Orange and Whitbread Prizes for Buddha Da, has a life-affirming new novel in Being Emily. Multi-talented Des Dillon’s My Epileptic Lurcher will have you weeping with laughter and emotion, while Alan Bissett is equally full of exuberance, optimism and style.

One of the most prodigiously gifted writers of his generation, Andrew O’Hagan is a magnificently intelligent essayist, novelist, critic – and mesmerising speaker. The Atlantic Ocean collects his reportage on the changing relationship between a declining Britain and a rising America – filled with personal insight and documentary witness, endlessly thought-provoking. Chaired by Magnus Linklater.

Award-winning Edinburgh journalist Tony Black’s first novel Paying For It follows washed-up hack-turned-investigator Gus Dury as he uncovers a seedy vice ring linked to Eastern European people smugglers. Jonny Glynn’s The Seven Days of Peter Crumb is a dark and brilliant debut about a serial killer’s last week on earth.

Firm festival favourite, Quintin Jardine – another one of Scotland’s suspiciously stupendous crime writers – returns with the latest outing for DCC Bob Skinner. In Aftershock, told with all his mastery and flair, a young woman on a golf course appears to be the victim of a serial killer. It is all getting very close to home…

Our beautiful capital is a city built on books, uniquely recognised by UNESCO as both a World Heritage Site and City of Literature. Take a tour around the Old and New Towns exploring the literary resonance of Edinburgh’s historic buildings, streets and spaces, with narrators, exquisite images, discussion and more. Author and director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre Donald Smith, and acclaimed Scottish writers Stewart Conn and James Robertson, uncover the heritage, hidden secrets and literary power of what lies around us.