Edinburgh International Book Festival 2008

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.

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.

Libby Purves

edfest.tv - video

18 Aug 2008

Award winning novelist Libby Purves appears at this year's Book Festival talking about her late son's book The Silence at the Song's End.

Tony Benn

edfest.tv - video

18 Aug 2008

Tony Benn discusses his diaries and international politics as the Edinburgh International Book Festival opens.

David Lodge

edfest.tv - video

15 Aug 2008

Award winning novelist David Lodge talks at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

Katherine Whitehorn

edfest.tv - video

15 Aug 2008

Universally respected and much loved journalist Katherine Whitehorn tells of her long and distinguished career.

Menzies Campbell

edfest.tv - video

15 Aug 2008

Ming Campbell takes part in a political discussion at this years Book Festival.

5 questions - Tony Black

14 Aug 2008

New Edinburgh crime prince Tony Black has half an eye on Ian Rankin’s throne. Here he becomes king of our less than majestic Q&A

Books - hitlist

14 Aug 2008

Anne Enright After winning the Man Booker prize for The Gathering last autumn, the Irish author talks about her latest effort, Taking Pictures, a short-story collection about female lives. 15 Aug, 11.30m, £9 (£7). ] Chuck Palahniuk The creator of cult…

Daniel Kalder

14 Aug 2008

It’s not everyone who packs their bags and heads to Tatarstan, Kalmykia, Mari El and Udmurtia – four of the most remote and least frequented republics of Russia. But that is exactly what anti-tourist and travel writer Daniel Kalder did for his debut…

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 - 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).

Desert storm

7 Aug 2008

‘The disease in question had, as its main deleterious effect, the fact that it renders its victims perfectly unable to write anything but 500-page books about the civil war in Sudan.’ The ‘victim’ in this case is US author Dave Eggers, but the…

5 Questions - Laura Marney

7 Aug 2008

Laura Marney’s new novel is My Best Friend Has Issues, about an innocent Scottish lass heading to Spain. Here she takes on our wide-eyed Q&A Give us five words to describe your books? Fun, sexy, dark, page turning. Which authors should be more…

Alan Johnston

Life-enhancing event from ex-hostage

7 Aug 2008

When Alan Johnston was kidnapped at gunpoint in Gaza and held in solitary confinement for 114 days, he used an imaginary wooden life raft and a mind-game called the River of Time to keep himself sane. As the last western journalist who had stayed to…

Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series

7 Aug 2008

Now firmly set as a Book Festival tradition, the AI series finds many of our top writers expressing solidarity with authors around the world who are being persecuted for simply putting words on to a page. Among those in attendance this week are Maggie…

Andrew Mawson

Social entrepreneur takes matters in hand

7 Aug 2008

When Andrew Mawson walked into Bromley-by-Bow Centre in 1984, the voluntary organisation was neglected, under-used and falling apart, much like the East London community surrounding it. Yet both were filled with enormous potential and today, the centre…

Celine Curiol

French author celebrates the outsider

7 Aug 2008

Young Parisian author Céline Curiol laughs when I tell her of the proliferation of post-Carla Bruni articles seeking to define the particular character of the French woman, and then makes her apologies for a lack of further insight. ‘I’m going to have…

Danny Wallace

Ghostbusters-obsessed yes man with another voyage of self-discovery

7 Aug 2008

The trailer for a Danny Wallace movie biopic might go something like this: ‘In a time of global terrorism, credit crunching and general fatigue with social networking sites, one committed tea drinker’s relentless optimism in the face of cynicism and…

Health Warning

7 Aug 2008

Simon Singh has upset many people with his damning views on holistic treatment. Claire Sawers asks if he has his finger on the pulse of alternative therapy Don’t get Simon Singh started on reiki massage. And as for ear candles or oxygen therapy, that’s…

Helen Fitzgerald

Gruesome tales from Glasgow-based Aussie

7 Aug 2008

Currently writing her fourth thriller, ex-parole officer and social worker turned screenwriter Helen FitzGerald was in perpetual ‘movie development hell’, until her latest rejection prompted her to transform the story into a debut novel. ‘Dead Lovely…

Helen Walsh

Warrington author cleanses the past

7 Aug 2008

If Helen Walsh’s Betty Trask Award-winning debut Brass came from the guts, its follow-up Once Upon a Time in England comes from the heart. Set in the author’s native Warrington, the book charts two decades of English/Malaysian family the Fitzgeralds…

Hitlist: Festival books

7 Aug 2008

Mohammad Hanif The mysterious death of Pakistan’s President Zia is the start-point of a splendidly silly debut novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Certainly wins our vote for book title of the year. 12 Aug, 7.30pm, £6 (£4). Danny Wallace The…

James Meek

Johnny Depp-friendly author and journo

7 Aug 2008

As well as writing novels, James Meek has spent a lot of time as a journalist reporting from conflict zones, and this experience fed into his latest fictional work, We Are Now Beginning Our Descent. A global book, it ranges from London to rural America…

Kapka Kassabova

Travel memoir about Bulgaria from Edinburgh-based scribe

7 Aug 2008

Kapka Kassabova likes to travel. You can tell, because the writer’s accent is all over the place: there’s Eastern European, Antipodean and a hint of Scottish in there as she chats away. Kassabova was raised in Bulgaria before living in New Zealand for…

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…

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…

Norman Lebrecht

Cataloguing the classical music industry

7 Aug 2008

Journalist, writer and broadcaster Norman Lebrecht is a long familiar name in classical music criticism. Known to be controversial, what he says is not always to everyone’s liking, but his knowledge of the classical recording industry is undoubtedly…

Paul Gravett

Fighting the anti-comics brigade

7 Aug 2008

Paul Gravett is an acknowledged expert on comics, who started off with comic-marts, before moving into publishing (with titles including Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s Violent Cases in the 80s) and writing hundreds of books, articles and columns on…

Steve Bloom and the Elephants

7 Aug 2008

The gentle giant is Steve Bloom’s thing. Having spent over a decade following elephants across India and Africa, he is launching his new children’s book, Elephants at the book festival in two events showcasing his sumptuous photos and his first-hand…

Thomas Glavinic

Telling a tale about the very nature of being

7 Aug 2008

From Mary Shelley’s The Last Man to I Am Legend, the idea of being the last person alive would seem to have an abiding fascination. Thomas Glavinic’s take on it, Night Work, tracks Jonas, who awakens one morning to discover he has, for reasons that are…

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…

Ziauddin Sardar

Seeking to redefine British multiculturalism

7 Aug 2008

‘The immense diversity of British Asians even surprised me,’ admits author and journalist Ziauddin Sardar, who has spent the last three years investigating the many identities of Asians in this country. Named after the fabricated ‘Indian’ dish which…

Edinburgh Book Festival 2008

edfest.tv - video

5 Aug 2008

25 years young and growing bigger and better… Catch up on this year's contents via the enthusiasm of EBF Director Catherine Lockerbie.

Home James - Sean Connery

Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 Jul 2008

As Sean Connery returns to Edinburgh for a date in Charlotte Square Gardens, author Ewan Morrison recalls growing up in the ultimate 007’s shadow and wallowing in those iconic one-liners

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…

You've been mangoed - Mohammed Hanif

Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 Jul 2008

The mysterious death of Pakistan’s dictator General Zia is still the subject of fevered speculation today. Mohammed Hanif tells Claire Sawers about a debut novel he’s based on memories, rumours and jokes Mohammed Hanif has always been a daydreamer.

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…

Salman Rushdie

Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 Jul 2008

Salman Rushdie’s new book The Enchantress Of Florence came close to being stillborn but he believes it represents the rebirth of his talent. The writing of his 11th novel was disrupted by the exit of his fourth wife, Padma Lakshmi. Distraught, Rushdie…

Karen Campbell

Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 Jul 2008

As luck would have it, Karen Campbell could draw on her former career in Strathclyde Police for inspiration for her literary debut. Published earlier this year, The Twilight Time is an atmospheric, fast-paced novel which introduced us to Anna Cameron, a…

Best of the rest - Edinburgh Book Festival

Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 Jul 2008

Philip Gourevitch. Having reported on the genocide in Rwanda, Gourevitch is back with a journey into the heart of America’s darkness as Standard Operating Procedure analyses the hell of Abu Ghraib. Steven Berkoff In town to direct On the Waterfront…

Richard Mason

Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 Jul 2008

In some forms of entertainment fame can often come extraordinarily early (music and film perhaps), but with mechanisms in place to help the ‘victims’ deal with the onset of celebrity. In the literary world, support systems are less common, especially…