Tickets are now on sale for Edinburgh International Book Festival and you can see several Blake Friedmann authors there this August.

Edward Carey will be appearing at the festival twice. On 9 August he will be talking with Nathan Filer and Matthew Quick about creating characters in fiction. On 10 August he will be talking to children about his IREMONGER trilogy. The second in the trilogy, FOULSHAM, is published on 7 August. Explore Foulsham on Edward’s website.

On 15 August, Monique Roffey will be talking with Neel Mukherjee. Their conversation will explore the different ways their books address idealistic young men railing against their societies. Monique’s latest novel, HOUSE OF ASHES, is published on 24 July. See more on Monique’s website.

Rohan Gavin is running a reading workshop on THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, Sherlock Holmes’s most famous case, on 19 August. The second novel in his KNIGHTLEY AND SON series, KNIGHTLEY AND SON: K-9, published on 14 August, also features a hound or two… See more on knightleyandson.com.

Zakes Mda is appearing on 19 August as part of the Voices from South Africa series to talk about his novels, including his most recent book THE SCULPTORS OF MAPUNGUBWE.

Margie Orford talks with Parker Bilal about African crime fiction and her novel WATER MUSIC, the fifth featuring detective Clare Hart, on 20 August. See more on Margie’s website.

On 25 August, Kerry Hudson talks with Simon Van Booy about her new novel THIRST and love stories. Find out more on Kerry’s Website.

Many of our writers also have shows as part of the Edinburgh fringe festival.

Andrew Doyle is performing his stand up show Zero Tolerance at the Stand this year from 30 July – 24 August. He will also be performing in a play called Outings at the Gilded Balloon, which explores many true life stories of people coming out, and runs from 30 July – 25 August.

Anna Emerson and Lizzie Bates of the Boom Jennies both have shows at the Fringe. Anna Emerson presents “An Evening With Patti DuPont” from 1-24 August. Lizzie Bates’ comedy show Reprobates runs from 30 July – 25 August. You can read more about the shows here.

The Edinburgh Festival is one of the largest Arts events in the world and takes place for three weeks every August in Scotland’s capital city.

SCULPTORS OF MAPUNGUBWE The_UK Seagull front2.jpg

Kwela Books, an imprint of NB Publishers, are delighted to announce that they will be publishing a new novel from acclaimed author Zakes Mda later this year.

THE SCULPTORS OF MAPUNGUBWE, Mda's first novel since 2009, will be published in October 2013. The narrative centres on the timeless kingdom of Mapungubwe where the royal sculptor has two heirs, Chata and Rendani. As they grow, their rivalry intensifies and this enmity underpins an irresistibly rich fable of love and family.

Zakes Mda, notable South African novelist, poet and playwright of more than twenty works, has won numerous literary awards in South Africa and the United States. Speaking of the deal he said, 'I feel greatly honored that my next novel, THE SCULPTORS OF MAPUNGUBWE, has found a home with Kwela, a publishing house that has been at the forefront of promoting South African writing in the last twenty years.'

James Woodhouse, publisher at Kwela, said: 'We are, of course, delighted that Zakes Mda has chosen to publish THE SCULPTORS OF MAPUNGUBWE with us here at Kwela. The novel is an extraordinary work of imagination, which will resonate with readers of all of ages -- a simply wonderful piece of work from one of the guiding lights of South African literature.'

Seagull Books will be publishing in English outside of South Africa.

Praise for Zakes Mda:

'A voice for which one should feel not only affection but admiration' -- The New York Times

'For a long time, white writers dominated South African literature - Paton, Brink, Gordimer, Coetzee. Post-apartheid, Zakes Mda, looks like the great South African novelist of his generation, a writer rich in both imagination and ironic political attitude.' -- The Philadelphia Inquirer

'In novel after novel, Zakes Mda seems to have cultivated a mode of writing in which the realistic and the magical co-exist with unruffled ease.' -- Harry Garuba, Independent