The Scottish independence issue and next year's referendum is creeping into many of the events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
On Wednesday they surfaced in a discussion on the New York Review of Books whose legendary editor, Robert Silvers, was described by Pankaj Mishra, panalist and author, as passionately against nationalism.
Mishra posited that globalisation had undermined the authority of the nation state. A deep shift away from national identities , he said, had come with global trends in consumption.
Writer Neal Ascherson argued that national identity was not really an issue for Scotland with its long history with England compared with former colonies.
Malise Ruthven, the third author and speaker in the event, described how the affilitations to Islam as well as nationalism that have blurred the political nature of the Arab Spring.
All three speakers were contributors to the Review which this year marks 50 years of political and literary journalism and a huge international following.
This event at the book festival was a near sell-out with an ideas-hungry audience queuing halfway around the walkway that follows the lines of the Charlotte Square garden.
Event: Wednesday 14 August 3:30pm - 4:30pm