The Edinburgh Book Festival 2007 (11-27 August) is now well into its stride, although some staff have had to resort to welly boots at times to cope with the deluge of rain. I'm sure George Monbiot (appearing on the 26th) will have something to say about the weather.
Still, while ununusally heavy downpours (at least at the beginning of the fest) have succeeded in turning the central garden area into something more bog-like than summery village green, bookophiles have been piling through the Charlotte Square Gardens gates undeterred.
The book festival's tented village is well set up for inclement conditions with its raised, wooden walkway linking all the marquees (shop, coffee shop, theatres, book signing tent, press pod, etc.) .
There's also a steady stream of high profile, best-selling authors from a range of different genres of writing, talking about every subject under the sun from debating the Future of Nature (26th) to poetry from Simon Armitage (22nd), from an audience with children's thriller author Anthony Horowitz (24th) to the future of architecture in Edinburgh.
Around 650 authors will have participated in events, debates, conversations, and readings in the gardens at Charlotte Square over the course of the festival.
Already we've had an ailing, but still feisty Norman Mailer beam in via video from the States to rip into Bush, Blair and their disastrous policies; local author Ian Rankin has announced the final installment in his hugely successful series of Inspector Rebus thrillers, "Exit Music"; car-loving author Iain Banks has shared his passion for green vehicles; and we've learned that Robert Louis Stevenson's Edinburgh-set classic "The
Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde" is to be adapted into a 48
page comic-book by artist Cam Kennedy and scriptwriter Alan Grant.
Among those to look forward to before the festival winds up on the 27th are Booker winner Ben Okri (24th), Ian McEwan (24th), Sebastian Faulks (25th), Life of Pi author Yann Martel (26th), political correspondent and author Andrew Marr (20th), journalist John Pilger (24th), Scottish historian Niall Ferguson (27th), and television presenter Jeremy Paxman (26th). And many more...
The Edinburgh Book Festival runs until 27th August in Charlotte Square Gardens. You can find out more at the official book festival site at www.edbookfest.co.uk.
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