Also appearing during the 16-day event will be Will Self, Zadie Smith, Howard Jacobson and Pat Barker.

BBC: Edinburgh book festival programme unveiled

Among the 84 signatories were such notables as Naomi Klein, Barbara Ehrenreich, Jonathan Lethem, George Saunders, Zadie Smith and Sam Lipsyte.

FORBES: Literary Stars Side with Union in Harper's Magazine Dispute

The list was compiled by Granta, an influential British literary magazine, and also included Zadie Smith, with whom Ms Ali is bound to be compared.

ECONOMIST: New British fiction