TWO of the world's leading authors will appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and sign copies of their work - from the other side of the Atlantic.

Authors Norman Mailer and Alice Munro will feature at the Festival courtesy of what is believed to be the world's first public transatlantic interview and long-distance book signing.

Both authors will use author Margaret Atwood's "LongPen" invention to sign books for fans in Edinburgh.

The technology - which transfers autographs via a mechanical arm connected to the internet - was created by Canadian author Atwood as a way to help with her gruelling schedule of signing tours and the signature it produces is accurate enough to be legally binding.

Atwood herself will be interviewing fellow Canadian author Alice Munro, whose 2006 short story The Bear Came over the Mountain was recently adapted into the film Away From Her, starring Julie Christie.

Mailer, the American novelist, journalist and playwright, shot to fame with books such as The Naked and the Dead, based on his personal experiences during the Second World War, as well as work such as the Presidential Papers, An American Dream and Why Are We in Vietnam?.

He was keen to take part in the festival but at the age of 84, and in failing health, it was felt he should not make the journey to Edinburgh and so will instead appear in a live video interview.

Running from 11 to 27 August, this year's festival will have about 650 authors representing more than 40 countries - including 200 Scottish authors - participating in more than 700 events.

Among the themes of this year's festival is a Focus on India, with some of the finest writers on and from the subcontinent appearing, and Focus on China, which gives an in-depth look at the economic and cultural transformation of the world's most populous country.

Writers of the World aims to highlight new international writers, while East and West examines the relations between the Islamic world and the west.

Ian Rankin will be appearing to talk about his work on the final Rebus novel, due out later this year to mark the 20th anniversary of the first book. Rankin will also be joining comic book legend Alan Grant, who recently adapted Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, in a special event for younger readers on the importance of the graphic novel. There will also be appearances by Andrew Marr, Doris Lessing, Germaine Greer, Ben Okri, Paddy Ashdown and William Hague.

Catherine Lockerbie, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: "We are extremely proud to have created a programme of truly global reach this year and to have discovered entirely new ways of including the world's great writers.

" Thanks to Margaret Atwood's visionary genius, outstanding authors thousands of miles distant will be brought to the Book Festival public with startling immediacy and intimacy."

Ticket prices have been frozen for the seventh year running, with this year's festival having more free events than ever before.

• Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, July 19th, and the full programme can be viewed at www.edbookfest.co.uk.