 He was also responsible, along with Sonia Orwell and Jim Haynes, for devising and co-creating an International Writers' Conference held at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1962 and then a Drama Conference with Kenneth Tynan in 1963.These innovative events, intended to draw together writers from all over the world, were arguably a forerunner of the Edinburgh Book Festival, which was not founded for another twenty years.The experience of this first conference was revisited at a Book Festival discussion during the 2012 Edinburgh International Festival.