Revel in a bit of late night Book Festival spirit at Jura Unbound

In celebration of the Book Festival’s 30th anniversary, this year’s Jura Unbound programme casts an eye over the last 30 years and makes a nod to the next 30 and, thanks to Jura Whisky, there will be a free dram for everyone, every night.

Roland Gulliver, Book Festival Associate Director said ‘The essence of Jura Unbound has always been to do things a little differently, to create something a bit special each night. We like to offer authors and artists a unique space to tell their stories, and our audiences the best way to finish their festival day with music, performance and lots of literature.’

Entertaining the Guardian Spiegeltent audience will be Alan Bissett and his alter-ego, the radical feminist and anti-porn campaigner Andrea Dworkin, raising a leg warmer to the 80s. Five Dials unwind in the 90s with a secret selection of writers and musicians whilst launching their latest edition live on stage. The naughties are honoured with a Golden Hour (or two) of contemporary Iraqi culture and music, while Sian Bevan embraces the future with a healthy dose of comedy storytelling in Robots Dream of Electric Tales.

Live music comes courtesy of Vic Galloway who presents a selection of his favourite artists from Fife’s Fence Collective and tells tales from his brand new book, Songs in the Key of Fife. Kevin MacNeil and Willie Campbell showcase their album Visible from Space and the much loved Bookshop Band make their Jura Unbound debut fresh from touring Paris and Ireland.  

Stripped, the Book Festival’s spotlight on comics and graphic novels, will also feature in the line-up when the world-renowned Literary Death Match premier Comic Death Match and Illicit Ink team up with Graphic Scotland to combine stories from the page with illustrators on the stage in Tales from the Strip.

Jura Unbound is free and unticketed and takes place every evening from 11 – 26 August from 9.00pm – 11.00pm in the Guardian Spiegeltent in Charlotte Square Gardens.

See the full Jura Unbound line-up on the Book Festival website and in The Skinny which also includes features and interviews with Jura Unbound participants.