British literary greats helped launch Book Nation at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on the 19th August 2010. Margaret Drabble and Robert Winston were at the Party Pavilion to drink a toast to the new enterprise and more than that, to launch it with style. On the evening of Wednesday 18th August in Dundee the first event played to packed audiences as more than 500 came to hear Robert Winston give a fascinating talk on the ethics of scientific innovation. On Friday 20th August Margaret Drabble was in St Andrews talking to a rapt audience about the latest edition of her new book, 'A Writers' Britain' and the following evening she appeared in Melrose.

At the launch Alistair Moffat said that Book Nation was a natural development from Scotland's prodigious appetite for book festivals. There are now 42 each year and they cover the country, from Shetland to Wigtown. Many new author events are planned as the organisers roll out their schedule. By the next Edinburgh International Book Festival, no-one will be in any doubt that Scotland is the world's Book Nation.