Fiction
A new novel from Alan Hollinghurst, the first since his 2004 Booker-winning The Line of Beauty, and the final instalment of Edward St Aubyn's blistering Melrose series have already made this a strong year for fiction. So the chance to hear these authors (both fairly elusive creatures on the literary circuit) discuss their new works, The Stranger's Child and At Last respectively, will be among the hottest tickets in town. Book this minute.
Undoubtedly one of the most inventive and enjoyable novels from the US so far this year is the Pulitzer prizewinning A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan; I look forward to hearing her discussion with Karen Russell, another arresting new voice from the States and one of the New Yorker's "20 under 40".
Anyone who has ever attended a Colm Tóibín event will know that he is not only one of the most wonderful writers at work today, but surely the most spellbinding performer: to hear him read from his exquisite short-story collection The Empty Family is a treat not to be missed.
Lisa Allardice (Editor, Guardian Review)
Fiction
Top of the must-see list for me are three great Scots. Alasdair Gray opens and closes the festival, with a talk that will range from his 1981 classic Lanark to his new mural in a Glasgow subway station, followed by the first public reading of his play Fleck, a version of Faust, featuring performances from writers including Will Self, AL Kennedy and the man himself. Then there's the wonderful Ali Smith presenting her playful, puzzling new novel There but for the, and the unclassifiable Alan Warner giving a sneak preview of his forthcoming novel The Dead Man's Pedal, not to be published until next year.
There's a Norse flavour to my next two picks: Neil Gaiman talks to Audrey Niffenegger about his brilliant American Gods, which blends road trip with Norse mythology, while AS Byatt explains how memoir and myth came together for her next book, a retelling of Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.
Finally, C author Tom McCarthy is a genius at tracing myth through modernism – he promises to explain "how writing works" using Ovid, Rilke, Cocteau and a dash of Kraftwerk.
Justine Jordan (Deputy editor, books)
Non-fiction
Terrific writers of hugely different kinds find themselves jostling together under the banner of non-fiction. Sex is a subject that catches the eye: smart and funny columnist Caitlin Moran promises feminism with jokes; Catherine Hakim, whose much-hyped Honey Money is to be published in September, will ask "how we use our sex appeal to get ahead" – lucky those, who find themselves with "erotic capital" to spare.
History is well represented: Ian Kershaw, author of a magnificent multi-volume life of Hitler, will discuss the end of the Third Reich; Niall Ferguson has captured attention with his "killer apps" history of the west. AC Grayling, who has recruited Ferguson for his highly controversial New College, is bound to attract a crowd, friendly or otherwise, for a talk on his "secular bible".
Jon Ronson's splendid The Psychopath Test has had us all identifying possible candidates in our workplaces and homes, a topic on which Dorothy Rowe and Simon Baron-Cohen are qualified to comment. And who better to get to the sharp end of politics than Steve Bell, John Pilger and Polly Toynbee?
Paul Laity (Deputy editor, Guardian Review)
Crime
Edinburgh's crime fiction pedigree is second to none stretching back to James Hogg's Confessions of a Justified Sinner and Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, not to mention Arthur Conan Doyle's birth in the city in 1859. The tradition lives on and is well represented at this year's book festival. Opening day sees Alexander McCall Smith discussing Precious Ramotswe and the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency as well as, closer to home, young Bertie from 44 Scotland Street.
McCall Smith's gentility is something of an exception in modern Scottish crime writing. For Ian Rankin's Rebus, the city was always less "the Athens of the north" and more "all fur coat and nae knickers". Rankin will talk about Rebus as well as his new protagonist, the teetotal police complaints inspector, Malcolm Fox. Glasgow-born Denise Mina and Kirkcaldy's Diamond Dagger-winning Val McDermid show that unpleasantness is not just a matter for the capital, and crime from even further north gets an airing with Jo Nesbø, who seems to be doing rather well despite labouring under the title of "the new Stieg Larsson", and Kurdo Baksi, friend, colleague and now biographer of the original Stieg Larsson.
Nicholas Wroe (Guardian Review)
Poetry
Scottish poets are out in force this year – a blessing for festivalgoers, given the strength of the poetry scene north of the border. As well as reading from his new novel, A Summer of Drowning, John Burnside will discuss his latest collection, Black Cat Bone, out this August. Robin Robertson will be reading from across his body of work, Don Paterson is in town to discuss his guide to Shakespeare's sonnets, and Jackie Kay – a festival favourite, and one of mine – will be talking about Fiere, the companion volume to her memoir Red Dust Road, which tackles the questions of identity and belonging that the memoir raised.
We will also be treated to audiences with two poets laureate: Carol Ann Duffy will present poems from her forthcoming collection, The Bees, and Liz Lochhead will be making her first appearance at the festival since her appointment as Scotland's makar. Last but very far from least, the matchless Michael Longley will be over from Belfast to read from his talismanic new collection, A Hundred Doors. Not to be missed.
Sarah Crown (Editor, theguardian.com/books)
Children's
Two writers from two different continents who consistently produce exciting and inventive work in a range of media are the hot tickets for me on the children's programme this year. US-based Neil Gaiman, author of the Sandman comics, American Gods and The Graveyard Book (and a recent episode of Doctor Who) is not to be missed (and you can't miss the hours-long signing queues he inspires).
Australian Shaun Tan, fresh from winning both the Astrid Lindgren prize for his children's books and an Oscar for his short film, always provides fascinating insights into his work, which includes the wordless graphic novel The Arrival.Looking to the homegrown talent, newly minted children's laureate Julia Donaldson is famed for bringing her picturebooks to life – something she wants to do more of as part of her laureateship – so her discussion with three of her illustrators, including Axel Scheffler of Gruffalo fame, promises to be entertaining. I'm also looking forward to the pairing of another laureate, poet Carol Ann Duffy, with a musician in a session about her new book The Gift, a lyrical journey through the life of one girl.
Michelle Pauli (Editor, theguardian.com/childrensboks)
