Edinburgh International Book festival: day eight bulletin

Charlotte Square was abuzz yesterday as the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference kicked off with Adhaf Soueif talking about whether fiction should be political . And it continues apace today, with Ali Smith, whose full essay on Style vs Content will on the books site this afternoon. Also today, the book festival welcomes Seamus Heaney, Edinburgh Makar Ron Butlin, Pigeon English-author Stephen Kelman, Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz and popular philosopher Alain de Botton. Irvine Welsh will also appear to talk about his Trainspotting prequel, Skagboys, and Yes Man author Danny Wallace will discuss his first attempt at fiction, Charlotte Street. It's awards season at the festival this weekend; last night Janice Galloway claimed the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book of the Year Award for the second book of her memoirs All Made Up, while this evening the winner of the Edwin Morgan International Poetry Prize will be announced. Tonight at Unbound, Le Freak singer Nile Rodgers will treat attendees to songs and stories. As of 10am, there are still tickets available for: 15.00: Edinburgh World Writers' Conference: Style vs Content 15.30: Oliver Balch & Katherine Boo 16.00: Stephen Kelman & Nick Lane 18.45: Maziar Bahari & Francois Bizot 19.00: Junot Diaz & Nathan Englander 20.30: Danny Wallace 20.30: John Jeremiah Sullivan & Craig Taylor 20.30: Ron Butlin Want to see Alistair Gray pulling a funny face? You can find him in our authors' gallery. Or if Michael Palin is more your sort of chap, <a href=" we've got him on video . And if you're popping into the book festival today, bring along a book and take part in the Guardian Book Swap – our bookshelf in the Guardian Spiegeltent is being regularly refreshed with books by authors we've interviewed.