FESTIVAL BOOKS | Top Tips TOP TIPS
A longer selection of this week’s best events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
11 AUG
A GRAPHIC NOVEL OF WOMEN Charlotte Square Gardens, 1.45pm, pay what you can Join Sha Nazir and Heather Palmer of BHP Comics and Laura Jones of indie publisher 404 Ink as they discuss their collaborative project We Shall Fight Until We Win, a graphic novel highlighting the achievements of British women in public life over 100 years.
PHILIP PULLMAN: MASTER STORYTELLER
Charlotte Square Gardens, 6pm, £8 (£6) Hear from the master storyteller as he talks through his fantasy worlds and resilient characters, with the chance to ask questions at the end. Ages 10+.
NGUGI WA THIONG’O ˜ ˜
Charlotte Square Gardens, 6.45pm, £12 (£10) Marking the publication of Wrestling with the Devil, a new edit of his prison memoir, the Kenyan novelist and playwright discusses the value of freedom and the power of imagination to overcome injustice.
VIV ALBERTINE Spark Theatre, George Street, 8.45pm, £12 (£10) Post-punk legend returns with her second memoir To Throw Away Unopened, in which she delves deeply into her own history and in unflinching detail portrays why she’s so passionate about the truth.
12 AUG
JULIAN CLARY & DAVID ROBERTS: TROUBLE AT HOME
Charlotte Square Gardens, 1.30pm, £5 Comedian, entertainer and novelist Julian Clary and award-winning illustrator David Roberts present their fourth adventure with Britain’s wildest family, The Bolds.
DARREN SHAN: DARK CREATIONS
Charlotte Square Gardens, 3.30pm, £5 Darren Shan talks about his writing career in all its gory detail, giving you the chance to grill him about his gruesome tales and otherworldly demons. Ages 12+.
REINHARD KLEIST Charlotte Square Gardens, 6.30pm, £12 (£10) Join German graphic designer and cartoonist Reinhard Kleist for a heady performance of the music of Nick Cave, live drawing and visuals. Musical soundtrack will be provided by Adelaide’s Zephyr Quartet,
40 THE LIST FESTIVAL 8–15 Aug 2018
Ukulele Death Squad and Carla Lippis and the Furies.
MAGGIE O’FARRELL Charlotte Square Gardens, 8.30pm, £12 (£10) With her unconventional memoir I Am, I Am, I Am. having stormed the book charts, Northern Irish novelist O’Farrell returns to the Book Festival to discuss the book and its success with Damian Barr.
13 AUG
HOW TO WRITE HORROR Charlotte Square Gardens, 11.45am, £5 Panel discussion with with Sally Gardner, Charlie Higson and Darren Shan, perfect for budding writers and horror enthusiasts. Meet the experts and find out if you have what it takes to write the next great horror novel. Ages 12+.
ROSE MCGOWAN WITH AFUA HIRSCH
Charlotte Square Gardens, 3.15pm, £12 (£10) American actress Rose McGowan talks to Afua Hirsch about her campaign to help all women reclaim their lives and her memoir, Brave, in which she recounts her fight against the Hollywood machine.
MY GRANDAD, MANDELA Charlotte Square Gardens, 5pm, £5 To mark the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth, his two great- grandchildren (aged 6 and 7) have asked their grandmother, Mandela’s daughter Zindzi, 15 questions about the man the world remembers as an inspirational leader and peacemaker. Ages 5+.
Ng ˜ugi wa Thiong’o ˜
RUTH JONES Charlotte Square Gardens, 8.30pm, £12 (£10) Spend an entertaining hour with the writer of the award-winning TV series Gavin & Stacey, who has turned her talents to novel writing with Never Greener. Chaired by Hannah Beckerman.
cutting edge, multi-discipline work and this specially created second chapter is led by co-curators Linda Kaoma and Michael Pedersen. Authors and artists taking part include Sabrina Mahfouz, Iona Lee, Julie Nxadi, Madzitatiguru and Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupile. LIAM MCILVANNEY & DENISE
GRAEME OBREE MINA
Spark Theatre, George Street, 8.45pm, £12 (£10) Racing cyclist and Scottish sporting icon Graeme Obree discusses his new edition of The Obree Way with endurance racer and cycle courier Emily Chappell.
14 AUG
RACHEL KUSHNER Spark Theatre, George Street, 12.15pm, £12 (£10) Kushner returns to Edinburgh with her much-anticipated novel The Mars Room, which follows a woman starting a double life sentence in a US correctional facility, leaving her young son with her mother.
Spark Theatre, George Street, 8.45pm, £12 (£10) Stuart Kelly chairs this event with award-winning Liam McIlvanney and winner of the McIlvanney and the Gordon Burn Prizes, Denise Mina. McIlvanney introduces his new Glasgow-set thriller, while Mina talks The Long Drop, which novelises the true crimes of notorious Scottish killer Peter Manuel.
15 AUG JUNE SARPONG
Charlotte Square Gardens, 11.45am, £12 (£10) See feature, page 30.
AFUA HIRSCH LEILA ABOULELA & NAYROUZ
Spark Theatre, George Street, 5.30pm, £12 (£10) In Brit(ish), Hirsch argues that although some of our identities, such as race and gender, may be given at birth, we can nevertheless insist on having the freedom to define ourselves in many ways. She joins Chitra Ramaswamy in conversation. See preview, page 37.
IN LIGHT OF WHAT WE WRITE Charlotte Square Gardens, 6.30pm, £12 (£10) In Light of What We Write brings young Scottish and Southern African artists together to create
QARMOUT Charlotte Square Gardens, 3.30pm, £8 (£6) Aberdeen-based Aboulela discusses Elsewhere, Home, a collection featuring men and women attempting to steer their course in a hostile world. In Qarmout’s The Sea Cloak and other stories, the Gaza- based author mines her experiences growing up in a refugee camp.
THE GIRL GUIDE WITH MARAWA IBRAHIM
Charlotte Square Gardens, 4.15pm, £5 World record-breaking hula hooper Marawa Ibrahim shares her new life advice book, The Girl Guide, a go-to handbook packed with stories and vital information about periods, body hair, sweat and more. Ages 10–14.
BRIAN MAY & ROGER TAYLOR Charlotte Square Gardens, 5pm, £12 (£10) Join photographic historians Dr Brian May (also the lead guitarist of Queen) and Professor Roger Taylor as they trace George Washington Wilson’s career, show key examples of his work using a new 3D projection system and present their accompanying book, George Washington Wilson, Artist and Photographer.
AFRICA UNBOUND Charlotte Square Gardens, 9pm, free Discover talents from the continent in a night of readings and performances from Zimbabwe’s Novuyo Tshuma, Uganda’s Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and S J Naudé from South Africa, plus Nigerian poet Donna Ogunnaike and Ghanaian percussionist Gameli Tordzro.