Edinburgh International Book Festival

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Kid loves - Children's books round-up

Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 Jul 2008

Harry Potter may have played his last game of Quidditch and Lemony Snicket’s series of events have unfortunately ceased to be, but there are still plenty of iconic figures hanging around in children’s literature. Brian Donaldson finds ten of them…

Kids Events

14 Aug 2008

When Miranda Richardson so memorably played the child-like Queen Elizabeth I in Blackadder, a career in entertaining kids seemed to be in the offing. With Horrid Henry (16 Aug) she appears to have finally grasped that opportunity by voicing the little…

Top 5: Blur Moments

7 Aug 2008

With Alex James coming to chat about his past life as a Britpop superstar, we reflect on the bits of Blur that we remember ‘There’s No Other Way’ As much of a Madchester rip-off as it was (those guitar lines ride in the slipstream of The Stone…

Advertising, Mad Men and the future - John Hegarty interview

Advertising guru set for Edinburgh Book Festival 2011

8 Jul 2011

"In the end, virtually everything I work on is, to a certain extent, irrelevant." After the best part of an hour's chat in which John Hegarty has pretty much sold me on the unparalleled joys and benefits of advertising, it's a refreshing shock to the…

Ewan Morrison - Tales from the Mall

Author's latest project contains pictures from shopping centres

18 Aug 2010

Can you give us five words to describe Tales from the Mall? Anecdotes, confessions, myths, underbelly, consumerism. Which authors should be more famous than they are now? Wishing fame on a writer is tantamount to desiring their demise as…

Mark Millar

Helping comics go widescreen

20 Aug 2009

Mark Millar is surely the Steven Spielberg of the comics world. It’s a tricky task to be hugely popular while retaining massive critical acclaim, but he’s managed to successfully straddle the world of art and commerce with his love of mainstream heroes…

Book Festival day planner

Our guide on the festival's must-see events

10 Aug 2009

As with most of the festivals, the Book Festival is a scary prospect at first glance. Here, Lizzie Mitchell maps out a plan which should make the minefield a little easier to negotiate. All events are based in Charlotte Square Gardens.

Tom Kitchin - From Nature to Plate

Kitchin confidential

6 Aug 2009

All cookbooks reveal something of their author; first cookbooks are often most revealing of all as chefs justify their status by retelling formative experiences. As with the opening of their own restaurant, it’s both a statement and a landmark. Tom…

Kids' Events

Trains and tweens dominate the first week

7 Aug 2008

Trains and tweens dominate the first week The good, the naughty and the hungry are all in evidence in the opening salvo of the kids programme, with the whole shebang kicked off in boisterous style by queen of tween Cathy Cassidy (9 Aug) who presents…

EIBF 2011: five lengthy literary works

featuring Adam Levin, Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, Stephen King and Tolstoy

24 Aug 2011

The Instructions The story of a megalomaniac 10-year-old boy who may or may not be the messiah takes place over the course of just four frenetic days, but Levin’s massive book takes in Israel’s battle for existence and an entire religion’s search for…

Vidal Sassoon

The style icon talks to Claire Sawers about his life and book

17 Aug 2010

At the height of his celebrity, in the peak of his playboy yachts-and-champagne years, Vidal Sassoon was aboard a boat in Capri, where he was spending the summer. Bobbing in the bay, surrounded by friends, Sassoon looked over at an English boy who was a…

Nick Kent: The rock journo who became the story

Apathy for the Devil will have plenty to talk about at the Book Festival

17 Aug 2010

‘When you get right down to it, the memory is a deceitful organ to have to rely on,’ reflects notorious rock scribe Nick Kent in the opening lines of his memoir, Apathy for the Devil. But even Kent’s near-fatal rock’n’roll lifestyle couldn’t wholly…

David McKee

Discussing the inner monster

12 Aug 2010

‘They’re like my children,’ smiles David McKee, the creator of such long-adored characters as Mr Benn, King Rollo and Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. ‘You love them equally and they all demand attention at different times.’ The legendary storyteller and…

Laura Barton talks about Twenty-One Locks

The author describes why and how she wanted to write her novel

6 Aug 2010

Born and raised in Lancashire, Laura Barton migrated south a decade ago, and found gainful employment with The Guardian. ‘I started writing a music column [Hail, Hail, Rock ‘n’ Roll] in a style that was quite different to most journalism at the time,…

David Bainbridge

Debunking the myths surrounding teenagers

7 Aug 2009

Vilified, hated, dismissed, feared and ridiculed, with a reputation blackened beyond damage limitation by even the deftest of spin doctors. Teenagers may be the least fashionable or genial of causes to champion, but that is exactly what David Bainbridge…

EIBF 2011: five book-to-screen adaptations

Featuring Joe Dunthorne, Val McDermid, Michel Faber, Alan Hollinghurst and Alexander McCall Smith

17 Aug 2011

Joe Dunthorne With his debut, Submarine, the Welsh poet and author captured the peculiar, rainy-day awkwardness of adolescence, and Richard Ayoade’s film, with Dunthorne’s assistance, did a fair old stab at bringing it further to life. 19 Aug…

Timeline - Summer music festivals 2011 from Scotland and beyond

A chronological list of the best festivals in Scotland and beyond

27 May 2011

A chronological list of the most significant festivals happening in Scotland this summer, along with the biggest and best from the rest of the UK and beyond.

Top 5 kids shows at Edinburgh Book Festival 2010

The festival’s last lap features some iconic characters, authors and places

22 Aug 2010

Julia Donaldson Along with Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler, JD’s first event contains an impressive amount of songs, stories and drawings, while event number two is a solo affair in which she will regale the nippers and their guardians with a tale…

Work by photographer Chris Close returns to 2010 Edinburgh Book Festival

Portraits of visiting authors appear in Charlotte Square for second year

21 Jul 2010

Chris Close, the photographer behind last year's successful 'almost live' photography display at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, is set to return to Charlotte Square this year with a new series of portraits of visiting authors. Visiting…

Planet of the Shapes: Susie Orbach

The bestselling psychotherapist on body fascism

20 Aug 2009

In 1978, psychotherapist Susie Orbach wrote the bestselling Fat is a Feminist Issue, warning against dieting, and outlining the compulsive behaviour linked to eating disorders. Fast forward 30-odd years, and have we paid heed to her warnings? In her…

Chuck Palahniuk - Snuff love

14 Aug 2008

Chuck Palahniuk tells such stark tales that people faint at his readings. Doug Johnstone crosses his legs, girds his loins and chats to the guru of gore

Esther Rantzen

Loving life in the third age

14 Aug 2008

It was the death of her husband Desmond Wilcox that shaped the philosophy behind Esther Rantzen OBE’s new book If Not Now, When? A self-help book, after a fashion, it expands on the virtues of enjoying life at every available opportunity, even into…

Five Edinburgh Book Festival guests you'll know from TV

Lucy Worsley, Bettany Hughes, Alexei Sayle, Kirsty Wark and Peter Taylor

9 Aug 2011

Lucy Worsley Delving into the intimate history of old homes and buildings is Worsley’s prime passion and her BBC Four series and book If Walls Could Talk pretty much sums it up. During her years of research, she has uncovered the fact that bedrooms…

Julia Donaldson - Simon Puttock, Vivian French and Guy Bass on the new Children’s Laureate

Author events set for 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival

9 Aug 2011

‘Julia Donaldson is unique in the nicest way,’ says former Book Festival Children’s Writer in Residence Vivian French. ‘She’s passionate about stories, whether in the form of books, songs or plays, and her enthusiasm is infectious.’ French is…

Jenny Erpenbeck set for 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival

Revisiting Germany’s troubled past

9 Aug 2011

‘An extraordinarily strong book by a major German author, ingeniously translated, produced with love by an idealistic publisher intent on doing something about the shamefully small proportion of foreign literature whose existence our country…

Debut novelists at 2011 Edinburgh International Book Festival

Rebecca Hunt, Adam Levin and Mary Horlock among visiting authors

8 Jul 2011

Charlotte Square Gardens will be teeming with quality first novels for the whole of August, one of which will receive the EIBF's Newton First Book Award. Brian Donaldson looks at the cream of this year's debutants

Alice Thompson

The Edinburgh novelist gets used to the spotlight

12 Aug 2010

‘It’s a great honour to be asked to appear at the Edinburgh Book Festival,’ says Alice Thompson. ‘It’s like being knighted.’ And no one deserves it more than this Edinburgh-based author. Her fifth and most recent work, The Existential Detective, finds…

Owen Sheers

Covering the poetic landscape of Britain

12 Aug 2010

One of those infuriating people whose expansive CV (poet, novelist, playwright, actor, television presenter) is matched only by their down to earth charm, Wales’ Owen Sheers will be presenting two very different projects at the Book Festival. The first…

Alberto Manguel will discuss All Men Are Liars

And why we should step back from the over-reliable narrator

6 Aug 2010

Alberto Manguel’s latest book, All Men Are Liars, is ‘a tribute to falsehood’ in which no one is a reliable source; not the enigmatic figure whose death is being investigated, not those who knew him, nor Manguel himself. It’s a concept that challenges…

Nicolai Lilin: author of Siberian Education

The writer tells of his time in prison, tattooing, and film offers

5 Aug 2010

Handed his first weapon at the age of six, Nicolai Lilin was destined for a life of violence. Having fled the horrors of his past, he tells Jay Richardson why death is sometimes a better option. Born into a Siberian criminal dynasty, convicted of…

Hitlist: Books

The best of the literary fest

21 Aug 2009

Suhayl Saadi, Frank Gardner, Steve Toltz, Tobias Hill, Susie Orbach, Mark Millar, Douglas Coupland

The Mulgray Twins

Gentle crime from unique pairing

14 Aug 2009

If you’re walking around Charlotte Square Gardens and need a double take towards a pair of 70-year-old women who look almost exactly the same, strong chances are it’s Helen and Morna Mulgray. The former teachers who have never been married but have…

Chika Unigwe

Learning how much shame there is in luxury

12 Aug 2009

The depiction of prostitutes in fiction can be a one-dimensional affair, but not in Chika Unigwe’s poignant and moving novel On Black Sisters’ Street. Unigwe was raised in Nigeria, but has spent the last decade in Belgium, and it was a culture shock…

Kate Summerscale

Hunting for clues and endings

7 Aug 2009

It can be a bit of a hunt to find The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. Some bookshops call it history, others true crime, while author Kate Summerscale has consciously used some of the techniques of detective novels to hook in her readers. The book looks at a…

Jacqueline Wilson's Secret Diary

The Dame discusses writing, technology and her adolescent self

13 Jul 2009

The idea of a total stranger leafing through your diary would mortify most teenagers. Having left behind those angst-ridden years some time ago, however, Jacqueline Wilson is ready to lift the lid on her adolescent hopes and fears. A hormonally-charged…

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…

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…

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…

Interview - Alan Bissett

Writer tackles Scotland’s sectarian shame in fourth novel Pack Men

24 Aug 2011

With the rivalry between the Old Firm reaching dangerously manic levels recently, you’d think that sectarianism would be reflected in our nation’s fiction, but it’s hard to think of many novels that examine our unique bigotry. Step forward Alan Bissett…

Jane Harris

The author of The Observations and Gillespie and I on making Glasgow an evocative character

24 Aug 2011

‘The secret was what I began with,’ says Jane Harris about her most recent work, Gillespie and I. And what a mystery we unravel, as narrator Harriet Baxter reflects on her time in 1880s Glasgow and the consequences of a chance meeting with ‘soulmate…

Interview: Ali Smith - There but for the

Scottish writer appears at 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival

9 Aug 2011

There can be few more anxious experiences for an author than turning to the literary section of a newspaper as the book they have slogged over for possibly years is taken apart by a faceless critic. One national paper gave Ali Smith the fright of her…

The best upcoming events in Scotland 2011

The best upcoming events in Scotland in 2011

Highlights of the 2011 cultural calandar from Film, Music, Comedy, Theatre and Visual Art

3 Jan 2011

Huge gigs, inspiring theatre productions, comedy legends and two cute little waving bears – just a few of the things coming up in ‘11 that we can barely contain our excitement about

Louise Welsh's Naming the Bones

The author's newest novel meanders between boozers and burial grounds

17 Aug 2010

Louise Welsh’s latest novel was inspired during a trip to Germany, but set in her beloved Scotland, though it’s not the reverie of an expat looking through tartan-tinted glasses. Naming the Bones meanders between Edinburgh boozers and Highland burial…

Chris Close's exhibition at the Book Festival

Chris Close's exhibition at the Edinburgh Book Festival 2010

17 Aug 2010

Chris Close seems to have established himself as the portrait photographer of choice for the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The authors visiting the festival to present their work and thoughts have been captured in a series of pictures by Close…

Philip Pullman - The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ

'The Most Dangerous Author in Britain' comes to the Book Festival

6 Aug 2010

You will know him by the horns, of course, and the casual air of unholy sin. For Philip Pullman is the anti-God and ‘The Most Dangerous Author in Britain’, according to the modern gospel of The Mail on Sunday. To most of us, however, he is the avuncular…

Candia McWilliam will discuss her memoir at the EIBF

The festival veteran considers her own difficult story

6 Aug 2010

‘I have loved the Edinburgh International Book Festival all its 22 years,’ says Charlotte Square Gardens veteran Candia McWilliam. ‘It makes an annual conversation about books and about thinking, about what it is to share in the examined life. It is…

Fatima Bhutto's Songs of Blood and Sword

Benazir Bhutto's niece tells her criticizing story.

5 Aug 2010

Mystery still surrounds the murder of Benazir Bhutto in 2007 but while people like her niece Fatima are around to ask questions, there’s always some chance that the puzzle might yet be solved. Not that Fatima has the family blinkers on as she was an…

How American journalist Heather Brooke became a threat to UK democracy

Five year investigation uncovers parliamentary expenses scandal

15 Jul 2010

In the introduction to her book, The Silent State, Heather Brooke describes herself as a ‘nosey parker’. Whereas some people can’t walk past a curtain without needing to twitch it, Brooke has a yearning to poke around into the lives of those authority…

Martin Creed: Down Over Up - Edinburgh Art Festival

The Turner Prize winner on his Festival work

15 Jul 2010

Renaissance Man Martin Creed is on the Fringe and at the Book Festival as well as stirring up the art world this August. Rosalie Doubal hears from an artist who wants to fully explore the process of living

Kids Events at the Book Festival

The events and authors for the younger generation

14 Aug 2009

Old favourites for kids include Michael Morpurgo (22 Aug), Malorie Blackman (22 Aug), Jacqueline Wilson (23 Aug), Anne Fine (23 Aug), Julia Donaldson (24 Aug), and Terry Deary of horrible history stardom (28 Aug), but there’s a whole lucky-dip of events…

5 Questions: Helen Fitzgerald

13 Aug 2009

Give us five words to describe My Last Confession? Menacing, funny, fast, twisted, gripping. Which authors should be more famous than they are now? I love the multiple layers in Kate Atkinson’s stories and think she should be even more famous…

James Lovelock - The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning

12 Aug 2009

He has been likened to ‘an Old Testament prophet’ by John Carey, identified as the creator of an ‘evil religion’ by biologist John Maynard Smith, and labelled a writer of ‘pop-ecology literature’ by Richard Dawkins. James Lovelock, veteran scientist and…

Gerald Scarfe

7 Aug 2009

He’s been like a massive pin sticking holes in the authority’s swollen balloons for five decades now, and Gerald Scarfe’s political cartoons show little sign of having the edge taken away from them. He studied with Ralph Steadman and counts Pink Floyd…

Magnus Mills

7 Aug 2009

Magnus Mills A London cabbie once won Mastermind, so why on earth can’t a bus driver write novels? The subtle tales of working life such as The Restraint of Beasts and All Quiet on the Orient Express have earned Magnus Mills great acclaim and his…

Rising Son - David Peace does Japan

British crime writer to discuss his quartet of latest novels

13 Jul 2009

Although generally viewed as one of the most crime-free countries in the developed world, when Japan does crime, its felons certainly step up to the mark. In their back catalogue is the notorious cannibal (is there any other kind?) Issei Sagawa who…

Dave McKean

The comics guy who connects with rock stars and chefs

14 Aug 2008

An illustration masterclass from Dave McKean is a very special thing indeed. As one of the most innovative illustrators in Britain, his association with Neil Gaiman has raised him to a near-deity among comic fans and goths, providing the covers for all…

Susan Greenfield

Being proactive about identity

14 Aug 2008

Short attention span? Inability to turn down chocolate biscuits? Memory of a long-term dope smoker? Susan Greenfield, the Oxford-based neuroscientist, is hoping to shed light on these problems and more, when she appears here to discuss her latest book.

Top 5 - TV People

14 Aug 2008

Susie Dent Don’t even ask her to be drawn on the subject of the ‘Carol Countdown Controversy’. Along with fellow word fan Henry Hitchings, the nine-letter word expert will be talking about the ever-evolving English language. 20 Aug, 2pm, £9 (£7).

Martin Wishart

Michelin star chef preaches accessibility in the kitchen

7 Aug 2008

It’s hard to believe that next year will mark the tenth anniversary of Martin Wishart’s arrival on Leith Shore. Then, a young Scottish chef opening a small fine-dining restaurant with his own name above the door seemed, well, confident. But Martin…

No more heroes - graphic novels

Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 Jul 2008

The Book Festival is once again acknowledging the rapid expansion in graphic novels. Henry Northmore chats to a number of comic book guys (and girl) to ask what the future may hold for the superhero While graphic novels may be still be a minority…

Julian Baggini

16 Aug 2007

Julian Baggini is certainly not afraid to engage with popular culture. He recently wrote this on BBC online: ‘Matt Groening is the true heir of Plato, Aristotle and Kant’. Although this article landed Baggini a mention in Private Eye, he talks of the…

Rebecca Hunt

The author of Mr Chartwell creates a credible and empathetic vision of illness

24 Aug 2011

One of the most intriguing and delectably-crafted debut novels of the past year is Mr Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt. The black dog of Winston Churchill’s legendary deep depression is brought vividly to life through the eponymous mutt (also known as Black…

Janice Galloway

The All Made Up author takes on our Q&A

24 Aug 2011

Give us five words to describe All Made Up? True. Funny. Sad. Teen-to-adult. Novel. Which author should be more famous than they are now? VS Naipaul. Because he’s irritating, self-regarding and self-involved enough that massive fame would be in…

EIBF 2011: Christopher Brookmyre adopts subtle pseudonym for latest work - interview

Chris, not Christopher, for Where the Bodies are Buried

23 Aug 2011

When Christopher Brookmyre has three syllables thrown at him, he knows he’s done something wrong. Despite his full first-name appearing on every book jacket since his debut novel in 1997, those around Brookmyre have called him Chris for years. ‘I tend…

Interview: Jon Ronson - The Psychopath Test

Author on madness, public appearances and panicking unnecessarily

19 Aug 2011

During his career, he’s met a sports commentator who believes giant lizards rule the world and encountered Christians who donate human kidneys for Jesus. In his new book Jon Ronson learns the skills for spotting psychopaths. Brian Donaldson wonders…

Profile: Sapphire - The Kid

Author set for appearance at 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival

19 Aug 2011

Sapphire is the voice of America. She doesn’t write about the glitz of Manhattan, the subtle discontents of suburbia or the gothic claustrophobia of the deep south. Her terrain is one in which the American Dream has not only failed but is a total joke…

Will Self

The author on his upcoming reading of Fleck with Alasdair Gray

19 Aug 2011

I’ve known Alasdair Gray for a long time now, nearly 20 years. We had the same publisher in England and he came to one of my events in Glasgow, probably in about 1982 or ‘83. We did some other events together around that time and struck up a…

Moon Talking - Ben Mezrich Interview

The Social Network author brings new novel to Edinburgh Book Festival

19 Aug 2011

Ben Mezrich is not finding it hard to find subject matter for future books. The American author started as a novelist but is better known for writing a string of bestselling non-fiction books including The Accidental Billionaires about Facebook founder…

James Yorkston

A droll and heartfelt memoir from the Fife bard

19 Aug 2011

Earlier this year, James Yorkston seduced a full-house in Glasgow, clad with a well-thumbed touring diary. It was not the first time, and it won’t be the last. While the Fife-based singer-songwriter and commended Fence Collective affiliate has long…

David Almond

Crossing the divide from children’s books to adult fiction

19 Aug 2011

Since penning his first children’s novel, 1998’s Whitbread Award and Carnegie Medal-winning Skellig, David Almond has been lauded as one of the UK’s greatest authors for younger readers. In 2010, the Skellig prequel, My Name is Mina, had critics falling…

Julie Myerson

The author's apocalyptic novel 'Then' delves into the heart of darkness

17 Aug 2011

‘Oh dear, I’m sorry!’ says Julie Myerson. She’s apologising for giving me nightmares with her latest novel, Then. ‘Well, I’m only half-sorry as I suppose I do want to have that effect.’ The London-based writer has never shirked from disconcerting…

Edinburgh International Book Fest 2011: 5 poetry picks

Featuring Michael Longley, Robin Robertson, Czeslaw Milosz, Wendy Cope and John Burnside

17 Aug 2011

Michael Longley One of the most decorated verse-conjurors at this year’s festival, the Belfast-born writer has the TS Eliot Poetry Prize, a Whitbread and the Hawthornden Prize under his belt as well as being the proud recipient of the 2001 Queen’s…

First Writes: Sunjeev Sahota, author of Ours are the Streets

The debut author discusses his first novel, Edinburgh and some of his favourite novels

17 Aug 2011

Give us five words to describe Ours are the Streets? Fathers. Sons. Responsibilities. Belonging. Home. Which author should be more famous than they are now and why? I don’t know how famous or not she is, but I don’t think I hear that much in the UK…

Jo Nesbø

Crafty Oslo crime scribe brings us his fiendish ’tec

17 Aug 2011

There are many ways to cause a fatality, and crime writers are renowned for finding the most imaginative route to the grave possible. But Norwegian author Jo Nesbø has really outdone himself in his latest novel The Leopard. His serial killer’s…

First word: Bob Servant

Hero of Dundee (and creation of Neil Forsyth) on Jesus, Brian Cox and Broughty Ferry

16 Aug 2011

Bob Servant, Hero of Dundee (and creation of Neil Forsyth) talks to The List about Jesus, Brian Cox and Broughty Ferry First record you ever bought The theme tune to Puff the Magic Dragon. I have never heard anything sum up life’s challenges better…

Darren Shan, Barry Hutchison and Alexander Gordon Smith talk horror

Creating terrifying tales for teenage readers at the EIBF

16 Aug 2011

As far as groundings in the horror business go, young adult writer Barry Hutchison knew exactly what fear was from an early age. ‘I lived in a perpetual state of terror when I was a kid,’ says the Fort William-based creator of the Invisible Fiends…

Horror Stories for Kids at 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival

Darren Shan, Barry Hutchison & Alexander Gordon Smith talk horror

16 Aug 2011

Gordon Ferris - The Hanging Shed

Evoking the dark side of 1950s Scotland

16 Aug 2011

For an author whose subject matters might be referred to as solidly traditional – a compelling combination of post-war historical drama and ripping crime thriller – Gordon Ferris is at the leading edge of a publishing revolution. The first two novels in…

Grant Morrison - Supergods at 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival

Tracing the flashy history of superheroes

16 Aug 2011

If anyone knows what makes a great superhero, it’s Grant Morrison. Having written for both Marvel and DC, the Glaswegian has made valuable contributions to the popular mythology of Batman, Superman and Fantastic Four. In Supergods, he traces his own…

Bella Bathurst - The Bicycle Book

New literary vehicle for Lighthouse Stevensons author

16 Aug 2011

Bella Bathurst’s The Bicycle Book navigates the past and present of two-wheeled travel. From the suffragettes who recognised it as a ‘freedom machine’ to the huge rise in cycling’s popularity in Britain since the millennium, it features a cast of…

Kristin Hersh set for Edinburgh Festival show

Indie rock goddess brings new memoir, spoken word and live music

10 Aug 2011

Alternative rock idol Kristin Hersh is spoiling us. She’s playing four shows in the Edinburgh festival, although she doesn’t realise it. ‘Am I? I don’t know!’ she laughs. ‘I’ll do whatever you say...’ The List is tempted to exploit this congenial…

Ned Beauman set for Edinburgh International Book Festival appearance

Debutant with a palate for the distasteful

9 Aug 2011

Ned Beauman’s first novel, Boxer, Beetle, comes prefaced with the rather haughty caveat: ‘This is a novel for people with breeding. Only people with the right genes and the wrong impulses will find its marriage of bold ideas and deplorable characters…

Christopher Brookmyre set for Edinburgh Book Festival appearance

Name-shifting Scottish scribe retains his trademarks

9 Aug 2011

Richard T Kelly set for Edinburgh Book Festival appearance

Author of The Possessions of Doctor Forrest

9 Aug 2011

In his second novel, Richard T Kelly conjures up a thrilling romp about three Scottish medics. Here he offers his prognosis on our sickly Q&A Give us five words to describe The Possessions of Doctor Forrest The ones I’d borrow from reviews would be…

Stephen Kelman set for Edinburgh Book Festival appearance

Author of Booker longlisted Pigeon English

9 Aug 2011

Probably most humdrum offices in Britain hide an aspiring creative type who dreams of ditching the day job and succeeding at what they love. For Stephen Kelman, the dream came dramatically true. Penned while he worked as a council administrator, his…

Kevin MacNeil - Revamping a classic RLS tale

Book Festival appearance by author of A Method Actor's Guide to Jekyll and Hyde

9 Aug 2011

A sense of place is very important to Kevin MacNeil. You can see it in his 2005 novel, The Stornoway Way, and it’s there with the evocative Edinburgh setting he’s conjured up for A Method Actor’s Guide to Jekyll and Hyde. ‘I like the place where a novel…

Joanne Limburg - The Woman Who Thought Too Much

Author of OCD-themed novel appears at Edinburgh Book Festival

9 Aug 2011

We all have stuff we worry about. Job security; an awful accident happening to our loved ones; what tune we should have played at our funeral? That kind of thing. But when it comes to full-on fretting, most of us are rank amateurs next to poet Joanne…

Caitlin Moran set for Edinburgh Book Festival appearance

A self-deprecating take on womanhood

9 Aug 2011

With Germaine Greer’s recent Newsnight debacle dragging the feminist cause kicking and screaming back to the dark days, it’s time to hail the new messiah: Caitlin Moran. Not for nothing has this Brighton-born writer impressed. Aged just 15, the young…

Sapphire

Author of "Push" among highlights of this years International Book Festival

22 Jul 2011

Now in its second year under new directorship, the Edinburgh International Book Festival is striding with yet more purpose across the August landscape. As well as the usual array of dazzling literary talent from around the globe and on our doorstep, the…

Interview: Joe Dunthorne - author of Submarine and Wild Abandon

Edinburgh shows with Unbound, Aisle16, Luke Wright and Tim Clare

21 Jul 2011

The day before our phone interview, Joe Dunthorne was on Radio 4, bantering with Tim Key about the perfect opening line. Chatting to him the next day, it appears the Welsh-born poet, short story writer and novelist has worked out a potential strategy.

Highlights of the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2011

Alasdair Gray's Fleck, Kristin Hersh and Heather Brooke among picks

8 Jul 2011

An event with the writer of landmark works such as Lanark and Poor Things is exciting enough, but the Book Festival has cranked up the fever to 11 with another excellent first. In 2007 Gray wrote Fleck, an adaptation of Goethe's Faust and the closing…

But what books do children actually like?

Never mind publishers and literary critics, what are the readers' favourites?

8 Jul 2011

Of course, stuffy literary critics shouldn't always have the final say. Kelly Apter finds out which authors actual children (including List critics' own) are getting excited about