Literati join 10,000 bookworms for festival that's become a blockbuster

WHEN it began eight years ago, the Borders Book Festival attracted three hundred people to four events in a tiny theatre in Melrose.

Yesterday, the programme launch for this year's festival showed just how far it has come since then. More than 10,000 book lovers are expected to attend the event, which will feature household names such as Michael Parkinson, Tom Conti and Maureen Lipman and pump an estimated 2.7 million into the local economy.

Launching the programme for this year's festival, which takes place in the gardens of Melrose's Harmony House from 16-19 June, comedian Rory Bremner compared it to the Chelsea Flower Show.

He said: "On the one hand you have all these hardy perennials - people like me and Jim Naughtie who come year after year, or the wonderful Sandy McCall Smith.

"Then there are the big displays. Peter Snow, for example, or Maureen Lipman, the Joyce Grenfell of our day. People like Ed Stourton and Michael Parkinson, who has interviewed practically everyone. The great thing about Melrose in June is that you don't have to go out to the world - the world comes to you."

Just as with a good flower show, he added, a good books festival should also highlight new varieties. As an example, he singled out And The Band Played On, a new book by Borders writer Christopher Ward about his grandfather, a violinist who died on board the Titanic. His pay stopped the exact minute the ship sank, but that didn't stop his grieving family being billed for the cost of repairs to his uniform.

"Little stories like that, little details bring history alive," he said.

But this year's festival will also have its fair share of bigger stories from the past too. It will see the first ever public presentation of the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction, the biggest annual award for UK fiction outside London.

Robert Powell, who played Richard Hannay in the film of The Thirty-Nine Steps, will be talking about John Buchan's seminal thriller, and David Rintoul and Vivien Heilbron will read from both Sunset Song and Dr Finlay's Casebook in a wider discussion of the much-loved books by Lewis Grassic Cibbon and AJ Cronin respectively.

Elsewhere in the festival, sponsored by investment managers Brewin Dolphin, David Mitchell, Michael Frayn, Allan Massie and Sarah Brown will be talking about their latest books.

The children's programme has John Byrne and Alexander McCall Smith talking about their latest work.

Festival director Alistair Moffat said: "This isn't the kind of place where celebrities turn up in chauffeur-driven cars and drive off again without talking to members of the public. The engagement with members of the public is a vital part of the mix. It's a festival after all - and this will be our best yet."

• To Book: Online at bordersbookfestival.org. By phone: [phone] (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm).By Post (or in person from 16 June): Borders Book Festival, Harmony House, Melrose TD6 5LJ By email: [email protected]: THE HIGHLIGHTS

Michael Parkinson: This time he's the interviewee, and Rory Bremner is asking the questions. Expect inside stories on true A-listers, from Burton to Beckham.

Alexander McCall Smith: Normally in Botswana in June, so this is his first festival visit. He's celebrating in some style, with the launch of his latest children's book and the Great Tapestry of Scotland project.

Tom Conti: Not only a great actor but a raconteur of genius – and superlative comic timing.

Robert Powell: From Jesus of Nazareth to Richard Hannay to a packed marquee in midsummer Melrose, a masterclass in transferring words to screen.

The Walter Scott Prize: If this were in London, it would be a black-tie event for a restricted audience. Mercifully, it's in Melrose, so everyone can come along to find out more about the finest historical fiction being written today.

Debi Gliori and Vivian French: Two of Scotland's best children's writers compete to tell the scariest witch stories.

Val McDermid and Professor Sue Black: "Suppose you're run over by a combine harvester. What would happen?" A delightfully gruesome twosome.

Mayreen Lipman: The Joyce Grenfell de nos jours, says Bremner.

Yes, but JG didn't act in The Pianist, Educating Rita or Coronation Street too.

David Mitchell: Much too modest about his latest, must-read latest novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, but go along and see him anyway.

One of the planet's 100 most influential humans, according to Time magazine.

Jim Naughtie: The ex-Scotsman journo with most mellifluous voice in broadcasting looks back at his own career behind the microphone.

Michael Frayn: Fine playwright, excellent novelist - and now an exquisite memoir too.

Rory Bremner: Yes, he IS that funny...

Alistair Moffat: Well, it's his festival. But he is also implausibly eloquent when explaining what our DNA tells us about Scottish history.