Edinburgh Festivals, Book Festival

Beyond the Book Fest

4 Sep 2008

Following their success this summer, The Edinburgh International Book Festival will present a special autumn event with award-winning Australian author David Malouf. Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, his book Remembering Babylon was shortlisted…

Kate Adie

edfest.tv - video

1 Sep 2008

What attracts some people to danger? Kate Adie's new book 'Into Danger' is full of personal insight

Barrie Appleby

edfest.tv - video

1 Sep 2008

Barrie Appleby's comic illustrations have been enjoyed by generations of children. Meet the artist behind Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger and watch as your favourite characters come to life!

Esther Rantzen

edfest.tv - video

26 Aug 2008

Esther Rantzen OBE embraces the philosophy of her self-help book, 'If Not Now, When?'.

Martin Bell

edfest.tv - video

26 Aug 2008

The former war correspondent and politician argues that on the issue of public trust in public life, New Labour's record was unforgivably negative.

Simon Hoggart

edfest.tv - video

26 Aug 2008

Simon Hoggart talks about his new book The Hands of History with tales about Tony Blair, John Prescott, Gordon Brown and David Cameron.

Telling stories while we can at The Edinburgh Book Festival

Alan Bissett's festival blog

26 Aug 2008

Today's theme is stories! The ones we tell about ourselves, our past, our bodies. What prompted this was The Fooligan at the Pleasance, a one-man show from the Arches' artist in residence, Al Seed. Al waddles onto the stage, an obese, grotesque medieval…

Chris Hannan

edfest.tv - video

22 Aug 2008

Chris Hannan writes about nineteenth century saloon girls in his first novel Missy.

Kate Mosse

edfest.tv - video

22 Aug 2008

Kate Mosse, the best-selling author of Labyrinth, talks about her new novel Sepulchre, a ghost story set in the south of France.

Roy Hattersley

edfest.tv - video

21 Aug 2008

The former cabinet minister talks about his latest book 'Borrowed Time', looking at the inter-war period in Britain.

5 Questions - Irvine Welsh

21 Aug 2008

Give us five words to describe Crime? Crime is an existential thriller. Which authors should be more famous than they are now? I used to say Ron Butlin, but I think that’s changing now. I think Doug Johnstone will soon be very famous. If I have…

Bryan Talbot

Graphic detail in the finest strips

21 Aug 2008

Bryan Talbot is a bit of a legend in the UK comics industry. He’s provided art for the likes of 2000AD, Sandman and Batman but you can still see the influence of underground comix artists such as Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton even in his most…

Simon Armitage

Pop poet turns wordy rock star

21 Aug 2008

Simon Armitage is a very modern poet, as happy to ruminate over Arctic Monkeys’ lyrics as he is to translate 14th century romantic poetry. During the 15 years since he handed in his notice as a probation officer to concentrate fully on his writing, he’s…

Andrew Sean Greer

No one can stop his California dreaming

21 Aug 2008

With his recent impressive run in the literary world, it’s hard to imagine Andrew Sean Greer ever feeling edgy about his work. Since the release of critically acclaimed debut The Path Of Minor Planets in 2001, the San Francisco-based scribe has come up…

Festival Books - Mark Watson

Eco-friendly, my dear Watson

21 Aug 2008

According to Mark Watson, saving the planet would, at the very least, ‘look pretty smart on all our CVs’. With an already sterling comedy résumé, Watson takes on environmentalism in his latest book, Crap at the Environment, which through the author’s…

Festival Books - Rosemary Goring

The history woman

21 Aug 2008

Rosemary Goring tells Doug Johnstone about finding the voices or ordinary people. There’s been a resurgence of interest in Scottish history among ordinary punters, a trend Scotland: The Autobiography taps into brilliantly. Edited by Rosemary Goring, a…

Gordon Burn

Upsetting the traditionalists with novelised news

21 Aug 2008

‘I hate plots. Soon as I know that a film or a book or TV show has a plot, my brain can’t cope with it. If I’m watching a film and I don’t know or have forgotten what the storyline is and I’m supposed to work out who this or that person is, I just fall…

Hardeep Sing Kohli

21 Aug 2008

As multi-tasking multi-media cultural polymaths go, writer, cook, broadcaster, columnist and all-round top bloke Hardeep Singh Kohli is pretty much up there in the can do stakes. Taking a short interlude from waxing lyrical in the papers or throwing in…

Kei Miller

Jamaican voice aching to be heard

21 Aug 2008

In a famous sketch by Bill Hicks, the great comedian is stumped by the question, ‘What are you reading for?’ The enquiry – and its correlative, ‘What are you writing for?’ – are deceptively simple. For Kei Miller, the Jamaican-born poet, novelist and…

Kids events

Getting arty and yucky, all in the same week

21 Aug 2008

If you suffer from Crayola on the carpet and finger-painted furniture, The Big Picture Event (24 Aug) should be the destination of choice for your little ‘uns. Chairman and Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen leads an exquisite event of drawing and…

Nam Le beams into Book Festival

21 Aug 2008

Vietnamese-born celebrated Australian writer, Nam Le is set to be beamed in live from the Melbourne Writers Festival, as part of an addition to the Edinburgh International Book Festival line-up. Le will talk about his debut collection of short stories…

Sadie Jones

Orange nominee who won’t stick to the script

21 Aug 2008

‘Not a bad start,’ comes Londoner Sadie Jones’ modest response when she’s reminded of the remarkable success of her debut novel The Outcast – a nominee for the Orange Prize for Fiction and one of 2008’s best sellers to date. ‘I’m just in a constant…

Top 5 - Tories

21 Aug 2008

Rick Wakeman He might be a cast member of the Grumpy Old Men but simply mention the word ‘conservative’ and the Yes man lights up. He even performed a gig in 2004 to raise funds for the party. Rock’n’roll eh? 22 Aug, 6.30pm, £9 (£7) . Ffion Hague…

Medium of the masses joins debate at Edinburgh Book Festival

Alan Bissett's Festival Blog

20 Aug 2008

17th August This morning I went to see Stella Duffy, Rodge Glass and Will Sutcliffe at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, promoting their new novels. Each reading was an assured affair, Duffy's in particular. Author discussion afterwards was…

Chuck Palahniuk

edfest.tv - video

19 Aug 2008

A very special visit from the States by famed literary provocateur and creator of Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk. Here he talks about his book, Snuff, the story of an ageing porn actress trying to have sex with 600 men in a single film.