McSex and McSweeney's at the Edinburgh book festival

Edinburgh international book festival, traditionally the most sweetly starchy of the Edinburgh festivals, has let its hair down a little this year: each night, it is presenting a series of relaxed, free events in its spiegeltent. The first was bracingly titled McSex, in which authors including Michel Faber read their favourite passages of Scottish erotic writing (don't ask); there has been a evening with Eli Horowitz of the hip American literary magazine McSweeney's ; and tomorrow there's Dragons' Pen, in which a number of unpublished writers will pitch their work to a panel of dragons, who comprise literary agent Lucy Luck, Canongate senior editor Francis Bickmore and me. I have already planned the frightening black outfit, the initimidating twitch of the spectacles and saying stuff like: "For that reason, I'm out" and "Let me tell you where I am with this." Entry is free – 9pm.