The many lives of Pelé, with Andrew Downie - Edinburgh West End

Andrew Downie is at Waterstones on Princes Street on Thursday 12 November, talking about his new biography of Pelé. He'll be in conversation with Alan Pattullo, and the whole thing centres on the book, Epic, which Downie describes as the first to explore every aspect of Pelé's professional and personal life. It took nearly eight years of research and more than 250 interviews to pull together, so it's a proper deep dive rather than a highlights reel.

Pelé, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, is one of the 20th century's most iconic sports figures, and the numbers back it up: he led Brazil to its first World Cup title at the age of 17, scoring six times in the tournament, and remains the only player to have won the World Cup three times, with more than 1,200 goals credited to him. The conversation will cover both the professional achievements and the personal life behind the name.

Downie knows the ground he's covering. He spent twenty years as a foreign correspondent in Brazil, and his sports writing has appeared in The Sunday Times, GQ, Esquire, The Economist, The New York Times and The Guardian. This isn't his first sports biography either — he also wrote Doctor Socrates and The Greatest Show on Earth. The evening runs from 7pm to 8pm at Waterstones, 128 Princes Street, EH2 4AD, with tickets starting at £5.00.