Inner voices, independence and literary other halves: Day one at the Edinburgh international books festival

Edinburgh is in full festival bloom – not just because of the omnipresent fringe, but now also thanks to the prestigious book festival, which kicked off today and took over the cosy Charlotte Square for the 31st year in a row. The line-up is quite spectacular, with big names including George RR Martin and Haruki Murakami. Here is a round-up of what happened on the first day.

1. The bookish audience is out in force

It all started with some samba shortly after the doors opened ...

And, instantly, the whole festival site was filled with readers of all ages:

Here, books make perfect companions for morning coffees, lunches and evening drinks. The signing tent:

2. There’s a whole lot more to hearing voices than stigma

The idea of hearing inner voices or having conversations with oneself is too often viewed as a sign of psychological illness. Not only is the issue much more complex, but the facts contradict that assumption: around 1% of the population hear voices without having any kind of mental disorder, as explained today by writer and academic Charles Fernyhough. He is, along with other scientists, responsible for a fascinating study that aims to explore how people hear voices from scientific, literary and spiritual points of view.

You can read more about this on a piece Fernyhough wrote for the Guardian. As part of the project, they are asking readers and writers at the Edinburgh international book festival to share why and how they hear voices when they read, and today they hosted an event with Nathan Filer, Matthew Quick and Edward Carey where they discussed how they create their characters. Among other gems, Quick, author of Silver Linings Playbook, said that a lot of his writer friends go into a deep sadness after publishing the book, a kind of “post-partum depression”, because the “characters are not yours anymrore.”

Quick also said that he can’t listen to his audiobook, and finds it difficult to watch the film adaptations for his books as well: “Even if David O’Russell did a great job, it’s hard, as the characters don’t have not the voices I was hearing.”

Future events will explore this further, including topics like hearing the voice of god or children having imaginary friends. Do tell us about your sensory experiences of the characters when you read.

3. The independence buzz is on

Scottish independence is, of course, one of the main themes of the festival, with the programme unsurprisingly packed with events about the future of the country. My colleague Mark Brown reports from Ian Macwhirther’s event about the steps England and Scotland might take after the referendum:

The first of the referendum speakers was the journalist, commentator and historian Iain Macwhirter with his book, Road to Referendum, exploring the rich history of Scotland’s journey towards the vote.

It was in the festival’s biggest venue and was packed. Macwhirter, who revealed he would be voting yes, said it was important to remember that Scotland “is not and has never been a colony”, it was always an enthusiastic partner in Britain’s empire-building, albeit a junior one.

“You get a lot of people coming across from European countries, Canada and America and the assumption is that Scotland is a bit like Ireland in terms of oppression by the English... that it’s coming to the Celtic revolution a bit late. That is not the case.”

4. Here’s a lovely doodle

We’re going to be asking illustrators to doodle for us throughout the festival. Here’s a taster: children’s illustrator Ed Vere kindly did this adorable lunch-time drawing:

6. The stories of authors’ other halves are worth hearing about

Spouses of famous authors are very much on the spotlight this year: under the tite The Women Who Married Literary Giants, as many as seven writers’ wives will be on stage. Today, the Guardian’s books editor Claire Armitstead hosted a session with David Park, author of The Poets’ Wives, and Naomi Wood, author of Mrs. Hemingway. Watch this space for a Books podcast with interviews with both of them.

• Turning this upside down, Moira Redmond wrote a piece today about literary husbands.
  

7. Sue Lawrence is a rock star

Unsurprisingly, the queue to hear revered cookery writer Sue Lawrence was pretty long.

She discussed the common traits between Scottish food and home baking in other Commonwealth countries: for instance, it turns out that coconutty shortbread in the Caribbean or Homespun Pie in Canada are really similar to Scottish favourites. And she brought cake, because why wouldn’t she.

8. Carol Ann Duffy keeps on proving that poetry can drive crowds

Again, here is Mark Brown on the lauded poet’s event:

The Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy was one of the main attractions on Saturday evening, reading old and new poems with musical accompaniment from John Sampson. It was extremely entertaining, her poems running the gamut from the first world war Christmas truce to England’s world cup failures.

Duffy is half way through her ten year tenure as Poet Laureate, a moment being celebrated at the Queen’s Gallery at Holyroodhouse with a new exhibition. It’s subtitled Dryden to Duffy and she was alarmed to see it on a bus, she said. “Duffy sounds like a cuddly toy... It sounds like ‘from Chaucer to Winnie-the-pooh’.”

Here’s a round-up of all our coverage so far

• Val McDermid: Putting the north in Northanger Abbey
• Mental health work is ‘just ‘firefighting now’, Nathan Filer tells festival audience
• The other half of spouses’ stories by Moira Redmond
• Researchers investigate what it means to ‘hear voices’
• Hearing voices: what’s your experience when reading?
  
• Podcast: director Nick Barley introduces the festival
• What’s on for teens?

More to come tomorrow, including reports of tonight’s events and possibly – possibly – of the aftermath of the opening party. We’re quite excited about tonight’s event with Zoë Howe about the Jesus and Mary Chain. Should be fun. If you’re here, don’t forget to share your festival photographs by clicking on the blue “contribute” button at the top and bottom of this article; and if you have any comments or want to chat with us, do post in the comment thread below.