One-off events with Scots stars at Edinburgh book festival
Here are just a few of the special events and one-off performances expected to become some of the festival's hottest tickets.
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After launching his own spirits company, Outlander actor Sam Heughan will host a 'spirited and intimate evening' offering an insight into his forthcoming compilation of favourite cocktails from around the world.
Stage and screen star Brian Cox will be appearing in a celebration of cinema hosted by film critic Mark Kermode, in the first edition of his MK3D series of events to be staged in Scotland.
Edinburgh-based author Jenni Fagan will host a 'Frankenstein Cabaret' night in honour of Mary Shelley's classic novel, which was reissued this year with a introduction by the writer, who is assembling a line-up of writers, musicians and artists to celebrate the 1818 classic.
A new play by Val McDermid will be performed for the first time at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August. (Image: PA)
Fans of crime writer Val McDermid will get the first taster for a new play from the novelist – And Midnight Never Come - which will examine the mysterious death of the Elizabethan writer Christopher Marlowe.
Author and poet Michael Pederson, the new Edinburgh Makar, will host an 'out of this world' event at Edinburgh's science centre, Dynamic Earth, which will celebrate the world and the vastness of space, with contributions from poet Hollie McNish, wildlife photographer Gordon Buchanan and musician Lomond Campbell.
Judy Murray will be launching a murder mystery novel set at an exclusive tennis club at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. (Image: Pickleball Scotland)
On the weekend Oasis are due to stage two huge reunion shows at Murrayfield, the 'Grrls Aloud' event at the book festival will see broadcaster Nicola Meighan, theatre-maker and musician Cora Bissett, and writers Carrie Marshall and Chitra Ramaswamy celebrate the women who were powering Scotland's music scene when Britpop was hogging the UK media headlines 30 years ago.
Hamish Hawk, one of Scotland's most acclaimed indie music stars of recent years, will pay homage to the late poet, singer and musician Ivor Cutler, and in particular his album Life in a Scotch Sitting Room, which recalled stories from his upbringing in Glasgow.
More than 30 years on from his debut novel Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh has returned to his characters Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie for a new story which sees them leaving heroin behind for sex, relationships and raves.
Irvine Welsh will be discussing his new Trainspotting sequel at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this summer.
Tennis coach Judy Murray will be discussing Game, Set and Murder, a new novel focusing on four women who fall under suspicion for the death of the tennis coach at their exclusive club.
Former Scots Makar Jackie Kay. (Image: Gordon Terris) Fans of poet, playwright and author Jackie Kay will get the chance to have an exclusive first look at highlights of her vast personal archive at the National Lottery of Scotland, which recently acquired 34 boxes of material from the former Scots Makar.
Broadcaster and long-time Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark will interview former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as she launches her eagerly-awaited memoir, Frankly, which her publisher has promised will be 'remarkable for its honesty and self-reflection.'
Historical fiction writer Sara Sheridan will discuss her new novel described as a 'swashbuckling rollick of feminist fervour and seductive suspense.
Edinburgh author Doug Johnstone will launch the final part of a science fiction trilogy which has taken his characters from Portobello Beach to the depths of the Arctic Ocean.
Glasgow-based crime writer Louise Welsh will explore her involvement in a campaign to give the River Clyde a legal 'right to personhood' to safeguard its waterways from pollution and over-development.
Tickets for all events go on general public sale on June 21.
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