Friday 1 6
Gordon Legge, Dilys Rose 8- Helen Lamb Spiege/tent, 70.30am. £7 (£5). Debut writer Lamb joins a couple of seasoned pros in this feast of literature and pastries.
Tim Smit: The Eden Project Field 8 Lawn Marquee, 7 7am, £7 (£5). Recently voted by the English Tourist Board as one of the UK's Seven Wonders. Eden started off life as a disused china clay pit.
Edna O’Brien Consignia Theatre.
7 7.30am, £7 (£5). in the Forest was one of the most controversial Irish novels in recent times. based as it was on a horrible true case of the Brendan O'Donnell murders in 1994. Still, O'Brien is no stranger to trouble. having had several of her books banned in Ireland.
Robert Crawford 8. Michael Longley Studio Theatre, noon. £7(£‘5/. Poet. critic and Rab Burns fan Crawford hooks up with Longley. one of the renowned Ulster Poets from the 603 and 70s (Chairman of the Board: S Heaney).
5i
The writer of spooky Shetlands tale Pharos chooses the greatest ghouls in literature.
Quint and Miss Jessel
This pair from Henry James’ Turn of the Screw are the most terrifying ghosts in literature. We see them only through the governess' eyes and her descent into madness and vertiginous panic become our own. Catherine The spirit in Wuthering Heights is the ghost of romantic love made incarnate by Kate Bush. This is ghost erotica.
Banquo The banqueting scene when Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost is unforgettable. Macbeth and his guilty conscience are left staring at each other across a crowded table.
Rebecca In Daphne du Maurier's eponymous novel, she is not so much a ghost as a brooding presence. The dead Rebecca haunts Max's second wife's insecure mind as well as dominating this atmospheric novel. Sara The ghost in All Smith's Hotel World is one that remembers vividly what it is to be alive. This ghost is not so much about death as about the joy of living remembered.
I Alice Thompson 8 Nancy Huston, Field and Lawn Marquee, 22 Aug, 2.30pm, £7 (£5).
Valerie Gillies, Janet Paisley & Tessa Ransford Field and Lawn Marquee, 72.30pm, {.7 (C5;. A trio of poets turning their thoughts towards the earth and the power of human Spirit.
Antony Beevor Consignia Theatre. 1.30pm. 577 423,. tt'i/ingrad and Berlin: The Downfall have earned ex-cabbie and political thriller writer Beevor a strong niche in a very busy histoiy market. Sheena McDonald fields the questions.
Mark Roseman & Uki Goni Field and Lawn Marquee. 2.30‘pm. .f_‘7 Iffii. More historical malarkey with a cosy chat about how the Nazs pianned genOCide and how some of them eventually fled to Argentina and escaped Justice.
The Environment: Who Cares? Consignia Theatre. 3pm. E 7 ES. Eco— minds Tim Smit. Bery Spovrers 8. Kevin Dunion toss this provocative question up in the air and see what develops. Isla Dewar 8- Sabine Durrant
Studio Theatre. 3.30 )in. 537 i575». Dewar f
has been dubbed :perhaps unfairiyi a female Roddy DOyle for novels sucn as Two Kinds of I'i/onderfu/ while tOtlfllO Durrant's debut Having It. Eating l: was lumped in with the Bridget Jones brigade. Perhaps unfairly Frank Ronan, Ben Faccini & Emma Richler Fieid & Lain/n
iarquee. 4pm. £77 435/. \N’liat it's like to be a bairn is the thrust behind this trio's works who have written. respectively. about yOung hippies. f'orced travellers and tomboys. Raja Shehadeh Consignxa Theatre. 4.30pm, 5‘7 LIT». Trying to get to the truth behind the horrible headlines is this acclaimed Palestinian iavryer and author. Victoria Glendinning Studio Theatre. 5pm. 5‘7 il‘Si. The biographer of Rebecca West. Edith Sitweli and We Sackv'ilIe-West ‘.'.’IH chat about her novel work, including her latest. Flight. set in the ‘new Europe. Imprisoned Writers Field and [arian Marquee. 5.30pm. free but ticketed. Historian Christopher Lee is among the speakers today. Ned Sherrin Consignia Theatre. 6.30pm. £8 (E‘Gi. Broadcasting wag Sherrin is a human encyclopaedia of quotations. ai'iecdotes and general reverie. The Writing Business Field and Lawn Marquee. (5.4:3piii, £23 Ami. How to write about real people. Land Use in Scotland Studio Theatre, 7pm. £8 {£6}. TC SmOut. Charles Warren & Alastair McIntosh debate the nooks and crannies of fishing, farming and forestry. Amos 0:, David Grossman & Raja Shehadeh Spiege/tent. 7.30pm. £8 (£6). A vast bank of knowledge and experience will be drawn on from these heavyweight writers as they try and sort out the Middle East question. John McGahern ConSignia Theatre. 8pm. £8 0.6;. This legendary Irish writer may have written many books 'such as Amongst lit/omen and Night/inesi but he is also heavily written about. Alan Spence 8. Dick Lee Studro Theatre. 8.30pm, 5TB fl‘fi‘i. Zen poetry put to music. Actually much better than it sounds.
12 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 15> 22 Aug QfZ-(l?
William Fiennes Field and Lawn Marquee. 8.30pm, £8 rm. Another offspring of those intrepid Fiennes. his travel tome The Show Geese saw him trek «1000 miles across the USA and ponder over the concept of ‘home'. Spiegelbar Spiege/teht. 9pm, free. See Thursday.
Saturday 1 7
Janice Galloway Spiegeltent. 70.30am. £77 (535/. See previexr. page
i 1.
Christopher Lee Studio Theatre. 70.30am, £‘7 fL‘Si. Not the blood- SUCklllg anti-hero of Hammer Horror but the author of This Sceptred Isle: The Dynasties which dlSCUSSQS the most powerful non-regal clans in the UK. Kate Atkinson Consignia Theatre. 77.3 am, 97 035/. This festival favourite has been making as many waves in theatre spaces iwith the darn fine Abandonment: of late as she has on the book shelves. but she's back with an upcomng set of short stories.
RA Houston Studio Theatre. 720/7), ff? ET». The history of Scotland discussed from the editor of Penguins recent thun‘ping tome on the SUDJCCI. Nordic Crime Special Field and L<’.".=’.li‘ i'vlarquee. i2300rn. {‘7 (95/. CTIII‘C and suspense fron‘ some top Finns. Swedes and Nonrregians.
Neil Gaiman Consignia Theatre. Littlom £13.50. See preview page 113. Nordic Writing Special Field and Lawn it/iarquee. 2.30pm. 5‘7 if?» More SCENIUIITQI‘JZ‘." types. IllCitlUlltg Erlend Loe who's been favOurabiyi compared to JD Salinger.
Iain Banks Consignia Theatre. 3pm. 5.7 635/. He's dropped the M for today. so presumably ne won't be taking questions of a sci-ti bent. But he will be reading iron: his latest annual release. Dead Air.
Mary Soames Studio Theatre. 3..’i’()prii. 557 4‘5». Magnus Lii‘klater chairs this event with the Churchills' biogramer. And she should know what she's on about. being the daughter of \r‘ilinnie and Clent.
Dominic Dromgoole Field and Lawn l"/I‘(Ii"(]U€(‘3. dprii. 5‘7 1523/. This is what DD reckons. "We are living in the middle of a carnival a free festival. a fete. a flower show. a harvest home. a steam fair. a rock festival. a grand glorious tender wild burst of new plays.’ Hear exactly what he thinks of contemporary theatre. James Lovelock Consignia Theatre. 4.30pm, £7 155/. A chance to meet the eminent seientist. environmentalist. author and researcher as he delves into his many theories. ncluding a green nuclear policy and that humans are courting folly by conSidering themselves centre of the universe.
Mary Contini Studio Theatre. 5pm. 5 7 rrsi Valvona and Croila director chats abdut her Italian roots and their influence on her cooking.
Imprisoned Writers Field and Lawn Marquee. 5.30pm, free but ticketed.
TELEPHONE BOOKING Book Festival 0131 624 5050
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TOP 5 MICHAEL CRICK
TH Ii MANY SIDFS OF ALEX FERGUSON
MICHAEL CRICK
The biographer of Alex Ferguson picks the men who have what it takes to step into the retiring Govan guru’s Man U shoes. Sven Goran Eriksson I think that around July 2004, after the European Championship, United will suddenly announce that Ferguson is retiring and Eriksson will take over like that. without much speculation. And he gets on very well with Beckham. Ferdinand, Butt and Scholes already.
Fabio Cappello He's won the league with Real Madrid and Roma and the European Cup with AC Milan.
Otmar Hitzfeld The only manager to have beaten United home and away in Europe. and he's done it twice with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.
Martin O’Neill The impact he's made with Celtic has been huge but the main problem is that he's unproven in Europe.
Steve McLaren He had a mixed season with Middlesborough last year but the next two years will be a probation period. If I can have a sixth. I'd say Alex McLeish. All of the above would go down well with the fans and Ferguson. which is why Arsene Wenger won't get it.
I Michael Crick on Alex Ferguson, Studio Theatre, 75 Aug, 7pm, £8 (£6).
Today. a look at the impact on families of locked-up literary types.
Lisa St Aubin de Teran Consignia Theatre. 6.30pm. £8 fL‘6i. When LSADT was a wee lassie I". England she decided it was her duty to find out what life was like beyond her own borders. And boy. has she done that. with Russe. Italy and Venezuela among the jOITtiS where she‘s laid her hat.
The Writing Business Field and Lawn Marquee. 6.45pm. £5 (53/. This talk entitled Writing from Conviction isn't an extra event in the Imprisoned Writers strand. but a chat Wliil Antonia Swinson who discusses how to get those principles into print.
Andy Beckett Studio Theatre. 7;)er 5‘8 il‘e‘i. His Phochet in P/(fCt'Idl/TI” is a fascinating look at the Chilean dictator and his regrettable links With this country.