New festival celebrating Scottish authors to be staged in London ahead of St Andrew's Day

Sir Ian Rankin, Sir Alexander McCall Smith, Andrew O’Hagan and Ann Cleeves will be among the leading authors appearing at the inaugural St Andrew’s Book Festival.

The event, which is supported by The Scotsman as media partner, will also feature broadcaster and political commentator Gavin Esler and tennis coach Judy Murray, who published her debut novel last year.

Novelists, historians, politicians and poets will be brought together for the inaugural festival, which will run from 25-30 November.

The event has been instigated by Scots in London, a new group created in 2016 to celebrate Scottish culture and heritage in the city.

Venues across London will play host to events, including the Caledonian Club, Scotland House and St Columba’s Church.

As well as appearances from best-selling authors, the festival is also expected to showcase debut novelists, and include special events for schools and families.

Rankin will be appearing at the event weeks after the publication of Midnight and Blue, his latest John Rebus thriller, with the detective also due to feature in a forthcoming new TV adaptation.

O’Hagan will be discussing his most recent novels, including Caledonian Road, which has just been published and Mayflies, which was adapted into an award-winning BBC TV drama.

McCall Smith will be offering insights into The Perfect Passion Company, his latest novel, which focuses on the founder of a dating company run from Edinburgh’s New Town.

Glasgow-born Esler, a long-time presenter of the BBC’s Newsnight programme, has published a series of novels and non-fiction books. His most recent book is described as “an urgent and timely exploration of a British political system in peril – and what we must do to save it.”

Murray published a best-selling memoir, Knowing The Score, in 2017, while she released her first novel, The Wild Card, last year.

The festival is being programmed by Handheld Events, who have previously worked on the Cheltenham, Hay, Queen’s Park and Chiswick festivals in England.

O’Hagan said: “Scotland is a moveable feast and London is one of its depots.

"It was Robert Louis Stevenson who once praised ‘a strong Scots accent of the mind’, and I’ve listened for that accent in Piccadilly and King’s Cross as much as in Ayrshire and Edinburgh.

"Therefore, I’m delighted that there is a new Scottish festival in London, which promises to be one of the richest and most varied cultural events in the capital.”

Esler said: “Since I have met Scots in lands as far away as South Africa, Alaska, Australia and China I’m obviously delighted to celebrate our diaspora closer to home.”

Scots in London chair Paul McFarland said: “Building on the overwhelming success of our sold-out inaugural gala and ceilidh events, we are thrilled to be bringing this first ever St Andrew’s tide celebration of Scottish literary culture to the heart of London.”

It emerged last month that one of Scotland’s biggest literary festivals had been called off after failing to secure the backing of the Scottish Government's arts agency, Creative Scotland.

Aye Write, which had been running in Glasgow for nearly 20 years, shelved just weeks before the event had been expected to return for a new edition.