The first thing we hear at the event for the Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition – in honour of the late Makar and held on the anniversary of his death – is the unique, rapid-fire voice of the poet, describing his vision for Scottish poetry in an excerpt of film by Danny Rourke.

The notion of urban, multicultural communities has long been romanticized. So it’s refreshing to hear from a couple of authors who have written fiction inspired by their own neighbourhoods – council estates in London and Paris – without giving the impression of making the best of a bad thing, or revealing the ‘otherness’ middle class readers might expect.

I’m squashed in the Peppers Theatre between two people in wool jumpers, both steaming from the rain. We’re waiting for Judith Flanders to arrive to talk about her book The Invention of Murder, a look into the Victorian relationship between detective work as new profession and the marketability and sideshow of murder.

It’s the first evening of the book festival and Sophie Hardach and Carlos Alba are in the RBS Corner Tent talking with Rosemary Burnett about their recent work, and the theme of human migration.

Traditional structure, who needs it? Not the Book Works' Semina series, nor its editor Stewart Home.  I was drawn to this event at the gloriously creepy new Summerhall venue because of what I’ve noticed as a renewed and rising openness to less commercial projects, a striking thing in the current book market.

Taking a break from Charlotte Square, I walk through the creaking halls of an old veterinary school, looking for a red room. After taking a couple of wrong turns down white halls that smell of fresh paint, I’m pointed toward  a staircase by a girl in a lab coat. It takes me into the Red Lecture Theatre. It’s described in the programme as “This room was built in 1971”; no, sorry, this room is 1971.) I’m in the new Summerhall venue, located in the former Royal Dick Veterinary School in the University of Edinburgh, which is running its own short literary programme this week.