A weather forecast from a legend

"...And so your 10 days here in Edinburgh should give you decent weather."

This weather forecast was delivered to me at the Oxford Bar in New Town, Edinburgh, Scotland by none other than legendary Scottish novelist Ian Rankin.

That's how things are going at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The day began by a warm welcome to The Nugget's correspondent by Frances Sutton, press manager for the Festival - the largest book event in the world - put on every August. It attracts 800 authors/speakers and 250,000 attendees.

It is a well-organized and user-friendly operation; the audience, which is usually 200-500 people, and the speakers bond almost magically. Each speaker is interviewed, generally gives a short summary of their work, and then the session is open to questions from the audience. In attending three events yesterday, the questions are well-thought-out and the speakers very candid with their response.

In the first event was Alistair McIntosh, a Glascow, Scotland-based writer and activist on land reform and ecology and a pacifist and Quaker. I was very skeptical of his topic but went, as the setting of his book is the Outer Hebrides, a set of islands off the west coast of Scotland - one of my favorite destinations.

His approach to controversial issues was so compelling I asked his interviewer, Jane Fowler from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and festival press manager if I could interview him after his talk.

His approach is not to corner people and argue about who is right but more to find common ground and ways to reach some sort of compromise rather than polarize each other. He has been invited annually to the British War College annual meeting to talk about his approach to war and violence and has been well received. He'd like to do the same in America but hasn't been invited ... yet.

The last function of the night was an interview of Tim Burgess, a musician, DJ and vinyl record collector by Ian Rankin, Scottish crime writer and vinyl record fan and collector.

I admit I struggled a bit with their Scottish accents but managed to follow most of the interchange between them. These two guys really got into the British and other world-famous - and infamous - musicians and bands. The audience loved it and seemed to follow every mention of groups and musicians I had never heard of. Burgess was a very shy, quiet person and Rankin was working hard, and successfully, to bring him out in the interview.

After the event I retired to the Oxford Bar, a pub Ian Rankin's main character, John Rebus, frequents in all his crime novels. As I was quietly thinking about my day, who should walk in and start chatting with me but Ian Rankin! What a thrill; he's one of my favorite authors and a great guy. We had a very normal conversation: his books, the weather and Oregon, Portland specifically. He somehow missed Sisters so I invited him to come next time he's in the U.S.