Festival BOOKS
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LOUISE WELSH Crime writer talks about the second book in her Plague Times trilogy
Having established herself as one of Scotland’s foremost thriller writers, Louise Welsh will be appearing alongside MR Carey (author of The Girl with all the Gifts) at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival. Welsh – who recently published Death is a
Welcome Guest, the second part in her Plague Times trilogy following last year’s A Lovely Way to Burn – says good thrillers are a reflection of the times they are written in. ‘The thrillers I like best are well-observed, redolent of a particular place, fast-paced and political,’ she tells us. At the Book Festival, Welsh will talk about the
worlds she has been able to construct within her trilogy. ‘The trilogy follows the progress of a few survivors during a contemporary
pandemic,’ she explains. ‘It’s a love letter to the times we live in. I walk around thinking how wonderful our flawed world is and imagining its collapse.’ Welsh believes that the festival continues to ‘turn readers on to new writers and gives writers a platform on which to express themselves.’ Edinburgh also gives her the chance to return to the first book festival she attended, and one she continues to savour. ‘Whenever I start getting blasé about festivals,’ she says, ‘I think back to that experience, how nervous I was about going and how important it was to me.’ (Kevin Scott) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 22 Aug, 8.45pm, £10 (£8).
20–31 Aug 2015 THE LIST FESTIVAL 29
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