The fourth Inverness Book Festival will feature an exciting line-up of acclaimed authors including Iain Banks, Tom Devine, GP Taylor, A-L Kennedy and Lance Price.

The festival is taking place on Mon 01- Fri 05 October at The Royal Highland Hotel, The Ness Bank Church and Hootananny.

Book lovers can look forward to sixteen top authors covering a wide range of subjects including political spin, the swinging scene, food, the great outdoors, crime, history, magic, hydroelectric power, and the future of the Union between England and Scotland.

For the first time the Festival will open with a pub quiz at Hootananny where all the questions are loosely based on books.

Three of the Festival guests are based in the Highlands: celebrated wilderness hiker, backpacker, and broadcaster Cameron McNeish; Shirley Spear, who runs the acclaimed Three Chimeys Restaurant in Skye; and Emma Wood, whose much praised book Hydro Boys is an account of the pioneering days of hydro-electricity in Scotland.

Another festival event will feature Wick born Ewan Morrison whose first novel, Swung, follows a couple’s progress through Glasgow’s swinging scene. The novel was published to enormous critical acclaim earlier this year, earning a literary celebrity fan in Irvine Welsh.

Other festival highlights include the return of bestselling Scottish author and festival favourite, Iain Banks, appearances by Lance Price who was formerly Alastair Campbell’s deputy in Number 10, and A-L Kennedy who is one of the nation’s greatest living novelists; and a lecture and debate on the rise and possible fall of the Union between Scotland and England by distinguished Scottish academic, Professor Tom Devine.

Events for young people include an appearance by the internationally successful fantasy writer GP Taylor who has been dubbed the “next J.K Rowling”.

The event line up was announced by Book Festival Director, Jason Rose. He said:

As Inverness grows and changes, so does the festival. We’re gaining a reputation for great entertainment and intelligent discussion. The great outdoors, food and topical issues have proved particularly popular in our first three years so I expect lots of interest in Cameron McNeish, Shirley Spear, Lance Price and Tom Devine. I’ve made sure this year’s line-up for children and teenagers is the best yet with megastars like GP Taylor and Melvin Burgess. And fans of crime and literary fiction are in for a treat with special evenings featuring the finest Scots in the business.