Edinburgh International Book Festival: day seven bulletin

The heavens have well and truly opened in Edinburgh on day seven of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, but nothing will dampen spirits in Charlotte Square today, as the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference gets underway. Today's event – the first in the series , inspired by the 1962 Writers' Conference – will feature Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif talking about literature's relationship to current affairs, and will be chaired by Turkish author Elif Shafak . Elsewhere at the festival today, poet John Burnside will appear, as will journalist and broadcaster Joan Bakewell . Scottish authors Jackie Kay , Grant Morrison and crime writer Denise Mina are in attendance this evening. And former children's laureate Michael Morpurgo will talk about his book Private Peaceful, which is the latest of his works to be adapted for the big screen. If you're suffering from Olympics withdrawal symptoms, Bill Jones and Richard Moore will be talking about real-life athletics drama, while today's debate in the Guardian Spiegeltent asks Mihir Bose, Ruth Whishart and Richard Moore if professionalism has ruined our national games. As of 10am, there are still tickets available for the following events: 12.30: John Crace & John Sutherland 13.00: Pat Barker 14.00: Russell Kane 14.00: What the Dickens with Philip Ardagh 15.00: Edinburgh World Writers' Conference: Should Literature Be Political? 16.00: Janine di Giovanni & Ed Vulliamy 18.45: Kapka Kassabova 20.30: Neal Stephenson 21.30: Grant Morrison Tonight's Unbound is the fantastic Literary Death Match, featuring Greg Proops, Nikesh Shukla, Tupelo Hassman and Rory Skovel. The signing tent will feature: And if you're visiting the book festival today, look out for paper sculptures around the site. Yesterday, a number of small paper flowers were discovered in the festival bookshop, all bearing an Oscar Wilde quote "freedom, books, flowers and the moon" with "A Gift For You" written on the back. Has the mystery paper sculptor struck again ? Each carries a limited edition number of /50, but not all have been found, so keep your eyes peeled in and around Charlotte Square and tweet us if you make a discovery.