Book Festival Goes Global

The Edinburgh International Book Festival celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this year, and, in an increasingly competitive market place its organisers are adopting the latest technology to spread the word round the world.

A leading Vietnamese born author, Nam Le, will answer questions put to him by an audience in Edinburgh, while he is attending the Melbourne Writers' Festival. Salman Rushdie will then have his event in the Scottish capital beamed over to Australia. The separate events will both be staged on August 24.

Catherine Lockerbie, the director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, told the BBC, on Thursday, August 7 that: "We are passionate about making possible things which would otherwise be impossible - as we did last year with our LongPen long-distance signing with Norman Mailer. This is another way of bringing writers together with readers, even if they are literally on the other side of the world."

According to Ms Lockerbie thirty per cent of the Edinburgh International Book Festival's 750 events, featuring more than 800 authors, had sold out.

The Scotsman reported that an online shopping spree had led the Book Festival to enjoy an eight per cent increase in sales compared with this time last year.

The Book Festival begins this Saturday, August 9 and runs until August 25. Charlotte Square in Edinburgh's New Town is the setting for the Book Festival.

The Garden in which the tents stand for the duration of the festival are normally closed to the public. The statue in the centre of the Garden depicts Prince Albert in Field Marshall’s uniform. It was unveiled in 1876.

Controversial figures, like Salman Rushdie, are no strangers to Charlotte Square as listeners to the Old & New Towns audio walking tour will hear. Sir Douglas Haig, who became Commander in Chief of the British Armies in France in 1915, was born in the Square.

Visitors to Edinburgh can hear about Charlotte Square's distinguished history with the Old & News Town, audio walking tour of Edinburgh.

Independent travellers can hear why the New Town was built. To hear an audio sample from the Old & New Towns, Edinburgh travel guide, please click here. There's also the opportunity to step back in time at the Georgian House, at Number 6, Charlotte Square. Next door, at Number 7, visitors can see Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland.

There are two Walk Talk Tours of Edinburgh. Each mp3 guided tour can be completed in two hours, but unlike with a conventional guided tour listeners are free to take as little or as long to explore the sights as they wish with a Walk Talk Tour iPod travel guide. Both Edinburgh city guides cost just £5.95. Customers purchasing both tours simultaneously will receive a twenty per cent discount.

Each Walk Talk Tour podcast guided tour of Edinburgh comes complete with a free downloadable map and easy to follow instructions so you won't miss a thing.

Make the most of the Royal Mile & More audio walking tour and the Old & New Towns Edinburgh city walking tour by taking a look at the respective Where & When pages for each tour. The Where & When pages provide information about the opening times and the admission charges of attractions along each tour's route.

With a Walk Talk Tour you're in charge. No need to struggle to follow - let alone hear - the man with the umbrella. Listeners to a Walk Talk Tour can set their own timetable, not have it dictated to them.