ONE of the most popular elements of the Edinburgh International Book Festival is the Children’s Programme.

The programme, sponsored by legal firm Baillie Gifford, was officially launched yesterday and once again it promises to be very popular, especially in this 70th year of the Edinburgh Festivals.

Running from Saturday August 12, to Monday August 28, the Edinburgh International Book Festival will welcome more than 1000 participants from 50 different countries to Charlotte Square Gardens and George Street, where two new venues are being created.

WHAT’S INVOLVED?

THE 2017 Book Festival’s strand for children and young people explores everything from coming of age, identity, diversity, the environment and migration to dinosaurs, pirates and ponies.

In the Baillie Gifford Children’s Programme there will be 225 separate events, with 31 book launches. Authors are attending from across the world, having written a mix of personal stories and tales with global concerns.

This is a big anniversary year for many well-loved children’s favourites; there are events to celebrate 20 Years of Harry Potter Magic, 10 Years of Tyrannosaurus Drip, 75 years of the Famous Five, Dear Zoo turns 35 and there's a celebration of 60 years of The Cat In The Hat.

WHO’S INVOLVED?

IN Scotland’s premier showcase of contemporary writing for children and young people, the calibre of writers is quite remarkable.

Cressida Cowell, best-selling author of How To Train Your Dragon, presents the first in her much-anticipated new series The Wizards Of Once, in The Siobhan Dowd Trust Memorial Lecture.

Julia Donaldson, together with illustrator Axel Scheffler, launches The Ugly Five, a celebration of some overlooked and unloved animals, while Anthony Horowitz returns with his long-awaited new Alex Rider thriller Never Say Die.

ANY CELEBRITY AUTHORS?

INDEED there are, including some big names from television.

In his first book for children, actor and comedian Adrian “The Young Ones and Bottom” Edmondson explores family, grief and loss in a time-travelling adventure.

One of the UK’s best-known sports broadcasters Clare Balding has created The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t Gallop, an uplifting tale of trust and endeavour.

Newsreader Chris Smith and BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James have co-authored superhero novel Kid Normal in which an ordinary boy discovers his inner strength when he is sent to superhero school.

WHO’S REPRESENTING SCOTLAND?

NONE other than local lad Sir Christopher Hoy, who will introduce his cycling adventure series Flying Fergus, where teammates work together to pedal their way to victory Kristina Stephenson, the Book Festival’s own 2017 illustrator in residence, will lead a series of events including a performance and a free big draw for budding artists of all ages, all tying in with a new adventure for her character Sir Charlie Stinky Socks to celebrate his 10th birthday.

WHAT ARE THEY ALL WRITING ABOUT?

SARAH Crossan and Brian Conaghan tell a story of friendship and self-determination in We Come Apart, created using the digital platform WhatsApp.

Environment and climate change are explored through performance in A Stone’s Throw by Giddy Aunt Theatre and in the events around the books there will be Welcome by Barroux, the Little Adventurers series by Philip Ardagh and Bottle Of Happiness by UK and Iranian duo Pippa Goodhart and Ehsan Abdollahi.

Australian writer Bronwyn Houston will host a collage workshop bringing to life the prehistoric past and animals of her home country, inspired by her book Return Of The Dinosaurs.

Gender politics and how it is explored in children’s fiction will be the topic up for debate by fantasy writers Jonathan Stroud, Kathryn Evans and David Levithan in The Great Gender Debate. Migration is discussed in an insightful and sympathetic way in Vanessa Altin’s The Pomegranate Tree, a beautiful and hopeful account of war-torn families, and in A Story Like The Wind by Gill Lewis, refugees share their stories from a spinning boat in the middle of the sea. In Elizabeth Laird’s Welcome To Nowhere, Omar is forced to flee his home in Syria because of the devastating civil war.

Janet Smyth, director of the children and education programme, said: “Children’s publishing is where the boundaries are being pushed and taboos broken. It’s an exciting time to both write and read books for young people.”

HOW DO I GET A TICKET?

FULL details of the 2017 programme can be found at www.edbookfest.co.uk Tickets to all events go on sale at 8.30am on Tuesday June 20, online at www.edbookfest.co.uk, by phone on 0845 373 5888 or in person at the Box Office at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (on Tuesday June 20 only, thereafter at The Hub, Castlehill).

Entrance to the gardens and George Street is free, and all cafes, bookshops and venues are fully accessible.