Beyond Charlotte Square

The marquees may still be going up in Charlotte Square, but the few days before the International Book Festival kicks off are the perfect time to explore Edinburgh's literary fringe, which is flourishing on the other side of town in a cluster of independent bookshops, galleries and pubs.

Based in Word Power, one of Edinburgh's best remaining independent bookshop, the Edinburgh Book Fringe, which runs from August 12 to 22, has a great lineup, with prominent Scottish poets such as Tom Leonard and novelists including Alan Bissett, who will be reading from Death of a Lady's Man. The bookshop's progressive leanings are manifestly clear with talks from Raja Shehadeh on recent Palestinian history and Paul Mason on 'The End of the Age of Greed'.

Meanwhile, the West Port Book Festival, returning after its successful inauguration in 2008, gets going on the 13th in the entertainingly diverse West Port – one of three streets which house bars, vintage clothes shops and, more famously, the strip clubs which give this area its nickname, 'the pubic triangle'. But its the numerous second-hand bookshops that will be the focus of attention over the next few days—at least in daylight hours—as they play host to WPBF's eclectic programme.

The festival's organisers take pains to avoid casting their upstart festival as a competitor to the International Book Festival—"we're not alternative, we're just ourselves", goes the tagline—but nevertheless, the West Port festival, whose events are all free, does have a markedly bohemian air. Its launch party was possibly the first such event ever to offer cake served in portions according to bra size – a cheeky acknowledgement of the West Port's faintly seedy location in Edinburgh's Soho. And writers speaking at one particular bookshop will do so under the shadow of the stuffed head of a water buffalo (called Clarence, pictured).

In addition to the impressive lineup of poets and novelists (the eclectic list takes in the omnipresent Alan Bissett, also appearing at the EIBF, a clutch of academics and poets who've been translating Catullus into Gaelic, and performance poetry from John Hegley) there are several off-kilter literary events to sample. Perhaps the most interesting of these is the "Literary Twestival", which gives festival-goers the chance to participate collectively in creative writing games on twitter. Despite the silly name (surely a frontrunner for 2009's Inane Portmanteau Award?) the Twestival is more than an attempt to hop on the techy bandwagon: the twitter format—140 characters per "tweet"—has beguiling possibilities for writers, especially when the intended games (pass the Plot, anyone?) get going. Back in the real world, meanwhile, punters will get to sample bookbinding or go on a magical-themed exploration of the old town. Or, if you've always been feared because of your skull-like face, now could just be your chance of glory in the intriguing "who looks most like Samuel Beckett?" competition.