The Trainspotting author, who was also set to appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival today, has agreed to play a set at the Born To Be Wide evening in the city's Voodoo Rooms.

The author was at one time a DJ on the house music scene, and organisers said being a DJ had always been an ambition of his.

The event sees invited guests asked to come along and play a selection of their favourite tracks of all time, with organisers having no idea until the night what kind of music will be on offer.

Born to be Wide organiser Olaf Furniss admitted he was delighted at signing up the author for the gig.

"We always try and get some famous faces in during the Festival, and I was delighted when I heard back from Irvine yesterday to say that he would be happy to come along and play," he said. "He said that he originally wanted to be a DJ, although I suspect he's given up that ambition now that the writing's going so well.

"He's always used music very heavily in his books, though – you can tell when a character is meant to be 'bad' because they tend to have awful taste in music.

"I've no idea what Irvine will play – I know he has pretty broad musical tastes so it should be an interesting set."

Tonight's gig is due to start at 9pm.