Yesterday at the book festival, there was a heated debate at the writers' conference on national literature, featuring Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. Today's writers' conference event on censorship promises to be just as riveting, with a keynote address from journalist and children's author Patrick Ness, chaired by Chika Unigwe.
Across the rest of the day, US author Joyce Carol Oates will appear and Orange Prize winner Helen Dunmore will talk about her new book The Greatcoat. This afternoon, Jeanette Winterson returns to talk about her memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal, and Laurent Binet and Maria Duenas will chat to Stewart Kelly about their startling debut novels.
And tonight, lauded SF novelist China Mieville will chat to Patrick Ness in a sold-out event.
And although it's a weekday, the RBS Children's Programme has plenty of highlights for book-lovers of all ages. This evening, it's the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, chaired by Philip Ardagh and featuring Liz Pichon and Rose Impey. Later, Melvin Burgess and Margo Lanagan – two writers who have been equally celebrated and denounced for tackling controversial subjects – appear together too.
As of this morning, tickets are still available for:
14.00: Allan Wilson & Lucy Wood
14.30: Duncan Campbell Smith
15.00: Edinburgh World Writers' Conference: Censorship Today
15.30: Merlin Waterson with Tam Dalyell
15.30: Graham Rawle & Elizabeth Reeder
16.00: John Harrison & Gabrielle Walker
19.00: David Torrance
20.00: Tom Kitchin with Kirsty Wark
In the signing tent today, you'll find:
Today's free events promise much too: the Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series discusses Human Rights in the UK, with readings from Will Eaves and Sue Reid Sexton. And at Unbound, there'll be readings from authors featured in the book festival's box set of short stories, Elsewhere, presented by publishing houses Cargo and McSweeney's.
And as we enter the last week of the festival, time's running out if you want to take part in our Edinburgh Book Swap – tweet us with pictures of the books you've swapped and why you think they're worth of sharing.
