Authors let loose with new festival events

AUTHOR Christopher Brookmyre will be among the writers appearing at a new series of events at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Unbound, a new strand for the programme, will feature authors, poets and musicians from Britain and the United States.

Running from 15-30 August, the free events include performances from Scottish writer Brookmyre and American singer-songwriter Simone Felice.

Roland Gulliver, the festival's programme manager, said: "For the 2010 festival we wanted to challenge ourselves, our authors and audiences to create something new, exciting and slightly chaotic. We wanted to make the most of our fantastic Spiegeltent and let the fun last a little bit longer into the night.

"To say it is authors reading stories, poets reading poems or musicians singing songs doesn't describe it. It is gloriously indefinable."