Edinburgh International Book Festival
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0131 718 5666NileGuide Expert tip:
Book tickets in advance for the mini-book festival Unbound. It's free so tickets will go fast!Description:
The Edinburgh International Festival runs from August 14-30th and is a great choice for all us nerdy book worms out there. It is held in a set of marquees in the Charlotte Square Gardens at the west end of Princes Street.
Established in 1983, the Book Festival has since grown into an extremely popular event, offering more than 700 workshops, panel discussions, and talks and performances with acclaimed authors from around the world. It's not surprising then, that the city was the first to be named a UNESCO City of Literature in 2004.
This year, the program theme is "A New World Order," with a particular focus on the United States' "place in this world" to be explored through a survey of American contemporary writing. More than 45 authors will be representing America at the festival, including Joyce Carol Oates, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Garry Trudeau, the creator of the Doonesbury comic strip.
Also in attendance will be Scotland's Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who will preview her new collection of poems to be published in 2011.
Bringing kids along for the festival season? Not to worry, they won't be bored while you're sitting debating geo-politics with Pulitzer Prize winners. The Book festival offers a mini-festival for children called "Blast Off to Adventure," which will feature Scottish, British and international fiction and non-fiction about exploration "in its broadest sense."
A new addition is the free, mini-book festival called "Unbound," which will take place in the Spiegel tent in Charlotte Square every night from August 15-30th. On the 15th, check out McSex, a forum that will discuss Scottish erotic writing, put on the Glasgow-based Gutter magazine.
Visit the Book Festival website for more details on scheduled events and how to buy tickets.
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