24 June - Thursday

  • Edinburgh Books 3pm Douglas Dunn

    We’re always glad to welcome the capo di capo of the West Port Book Festival, our unoffcial poet in residence, Professor Douglas Dunn. His many achievements in poetry include the Somerset-Maugham Award winning Terry Street, Love or Nothing and the acclaimed Elegies, and he can also claim to be the only poet to have had his name in lights upon Edinburgh Castle.

  • The Illicit Still 4pm Ken MacLeod

    The Night Sessions is Ken MacLeod’s latest novel, set in an Edinburgh under threat; ‘A bishop is dead. As Detective Inspector Adam Ferguson picks through the rubble of the tiny church, he discovers that it was deliberately bombed. That it’s a terrorist act is soon beyond doubt…’ Ken will be reading from his work, as well as telling us about the science and philosophy in his mind-expanding fiction. We are also chuffed to be pairing up with the Illicit Still: a pint, a sandwich and science fiction make for a heady afternoon in the West Port.

  • Peter Bell Books 5.30pm Owen Dudley Edwards

    Multi-talented literary historian Owen Dudley Edwards is an expert on Irish wit Oscar Wilde, the quintessential rationalist Sherlock Holmes, and the inimitable PG Wodehouse. He is also a connoisseur of Richmal Crompton’s ‘William’ stories, and has promised us a dramatic recitation in which he’ll effortlessly transform from a respected scholar of mature years into a mischievous urchin. We can’t wait.

  • Owl & Lion Gallery 7pm Master Bookbinding

    Tom McEwan, from Ayrshire, was the 2007 Overall Winner of the prestigious Elizabeth Soutar Bookbinding Competition. McEwan won the prize for his binding of Goethe’s Faust. Describing his own work, Tom said: ‘The sharp, angular and tapered forms in the design hint at Faust’s ultimate fate following his pact with the devil.’ Although we don’t wish to promise devilish goings-on, we can guarantee a fascinating insight into the world of fine bookbinding. Tom will be in conversation with West Port’s very own master bookbinder, Isabelle Ting.

  • Owl & Lion Gallery 8pm Bookbinding Demonstration

    Master bookbinder, Tom McEwan, will be offering the lucky few a rare insight into the intricate techniques of fine bookbinding. He’ll be demonstrating book edge decoration using acrylic inks, transfer print and sunago (sprinkled gold leaf) techniques.

  • The Wee Red Bar 8pm The Book That Changed My Life

    Is there a book that changed your life? Perhaps you read Paradise Lost or Flopsy the Bunny and your world-view has never been the same since? The Scottish Book Trust asked lots of people this question and the result was *The Book That Changed My Life*, a collection of stories from across Scotland about people’s reading experiences. Three very diΩerent writers, Kirsty Logan, Shams Abu-Tayeh and John Gerard Fagan read their stories from The Book That Changed My Life project and discuss their own writing.

    To find out more about the Scottish Book Trust please visit: scottishbooktrust.com.

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