This year the British Council Bookcase welcomed an international group of 50 literature experts as delegates to our programme at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The programme, developed in partnership with the Edinburgh International Book Festival and supported by Creative Scotland, aims to enables the best of contemporary British Literature to reach the widest possible international audience.

The aim of the event was (and is) to create lasting cultural relations worldwide with the help of a subvention fund - allowing delegates to curate events in their home country inspired by their experience in Edinburgh.

The delegates heard from a wide range of established writers from the UK, including Janice Galloway, Denise Mina, Ian Rankin, Owen Sheers, Neel Mukherjee, Kamila Shamsie, David Mitchell, Alan Warner and DBC Pierre, as well as first-time novelists and poets and key figures in culture (such as Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish Culture Minister).

Click here for an interview on the Bookcase with Kamila Shamsie.

The programme was packed with highlights. High profile writers lived up to expectations  – A.S. Byatt, David Mitchell and Janice Galloway charmed and challenged the audience, delegates discovered new authors Nadifa Mohammed and Kei Miller, and got to experience new formats for live literature events through the Spiegeltent Unbound programme.  Delegates commented on how their image of a literature 'event' had been subverted.

The delegates were also introduced to leading organisations working in literature in Edinburgh through our 'literary lunch' series. Hosts included the National Library, Scottish Poetry Library, Storytelling Centre and Scottish Book Trust.  

Have a look here for some first-person accounts from the delgates.

A detailed programme of the event can be found by clicking here.

Image: Inside the Highland Park Spiegeltent at the EIBF.  © British Council, 2010.