Star writers to attend international book festival

WRITERS including Alexander McCall Smith, Val McDermid and Julian Barnes and musician Jarvis Cocker will be among those taking part in the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year.

There will be more than 600 events during the festival in August, which will feature in excess of 550 authors, performers, musicians and thinkers from 50 countries under the banner “All Together Now”.

The programme will build on the hybrid format developed over the past two years of the pandemic, with live, in-person events, many of which will also be available to stream or to watch at a later date.

Those appearing at the festival include Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa, Outlander writer Diana Gabaldon, linguist Noam Chomsky and writer and director Armando Iannucci.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will join the festival for two events, interviewing writer Louise Welsh about her new novel The Second Cut, and actor Brian Cox about life on the Scottish stage and his role in hit television series Succession.

There will also be events featuring musicians including Martha Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker, Vashti Bunyan, and Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross, who will share stories of their journeys through the world of music.