BELLA BATHURST Fishy true tales from sea-loving writer
By her own admission. Bella Bathurst is fixated with the sea. Her debut book. The Lighthouse Stevensons. told the tale of the famous family responsible for designing and constructing all of Scotland's lighthouses (and of c0urse. sr_)awning one Robert Louis Stevenson, who started out training as a lighthouse engineer). Laconic and witty. it became a bestseller and an award winner, instantly shooting Bathurst to the top of pile of the country's non- fiction writers. A foray into fiction followed with The Specials. but all the while Bathurst was harbouring another sea book. The Wreckers was the result. published earlier this year. Subtitled “A Story of Killing Seas. False Lights and Plundered Ships'. The Wreckers was another triumph of a book. Its author travelled extensively around this isle of ours. investigating the histOry of shipwrecks and wrecking along our shores. Those living along the coast have long eked a living out of salvaging produce and parts from wrecked vessels. and the dubious and shadowy nature of such practises is examined succinctly and beautifully by a writer clearly in love with her subject. Recommended reading: The Lighthouse Stevensons. a fascinating history of engineering along Scotland‘s shoreline. (Doug Johnstone) I 29 Aug, 3.30pm, £7 (5‘5).
ANDREW GREIG
The poet laureate of the mountains
Andrew Greig is something of a polymath. and a leading light of Scottish writing over the last two decades. His debut novel. E/ectric Brae. appeared in 1992. but by then he had already published five collections of poetry and two non- fiction books about his other passion. mountaineering. Nevertheless. it is for his novels that Greig is now rightly acclaimed. Electric Brae. a powerful, poetic and intense romance set against the backdrop of the wrlds of Orkney, seemed vibrantly out of step
All events are based in Chartotte Square Gardens, unless othenivise indicated. The box office number is
0131 624 5050 and the website is www.edbookfest.co.uk.
Salman Rushdie
This year’s Book Festival is full of fine writers, but Rushdie is the event‘s undisputed
heavyweight. His lifestyle may have been restricted by the fatwa and his reputation dented by a few lukewarm reviews, but his epic forthcoming novel, Shalimar the Clown, shows a man still unafraid to engage with the biggest issues. It takes in love, Islamic extremism, the French Resistance, LA and Kashmir, but by all accounts the most potent part of the novel is Rushdie’s portrait of a prominent man in fear for his life.
I Q/Aug, .1..')’()p/rr, :"r' (for.
with the gritty urban realism so prevalent at the time. Since that book's appearance. there have been more collections of sinewy poetry and four more novels. the breadth of which is refreshing in a world where too many authors stick to their narrow field of Vision. Ranging in settings from 1920s Penang to the eve of the Battle of Britain. there are nevertheless themes of love and loss stretching out across Greig's work. as he pitches examinations of the human condition against mesmerising backdrops of physical power to create works that are as resonant as they are movrng in their intensity. lyrical yet driven, Ereig's works are intelligent and touching in equal measure.
Recommended reading: [)ebut novel f-‘lect/‘ic Brae is a powerful modern love story. (Doug Johnstone) I 78 Aug, 10. Isa/ii, 57 (5‘55); {’5} Aug. ()‘BOp/ii, f‘/ (5‘5).
74 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 75> Aug 8 Sep .9005)
for BOOKS REVIEWS see non-Festival magazine
GEORGE MONBIOT Fighting talk
As '.'.'eii as bei'ig a renou'xned author. ca'i‘pargnc-r and thorn in the side of big business. George Monbiot is also a bit of a iegend in Charlotte Square Gardens. When he appeared in a regular slot at the 200$ Book Festival. e'itit'ed 'l-i\.e Words \."i"ith Monbiot'. the at'i‘osphere was compared to that of an old-fashioned public meeting. Normally placid audience members could be found (‘Iiri‘bing frantically over each other to offer Views on prickly issues arising from globalisation and neo-liberal econon‘ics. such as (lein<x:rac\.' and econon‘rc iiislice.
The iconoclastic writer. who has been beaten by military police. stung into a coma by hornets and pronounced (,IlltK‘étll‘, dead in Kenya.
continues to yent his spleen in books such as The Age of (Sense/it. in ‘.'.'fll(ift
he tackles global democracy. and Captive State. which deals wrth corporate pox-.Ier in Britain. His regular column in The Guardian has recently tackled such subjects as climate change. the nuclear dilemma and [)ll‘.’£ttlf§£ttl()"i. Never afraid to risk unpopularity. lvlonbiot exen dared to point out the en‘peror's new clothes nature of the (38's plan on debt relief. This years three exents ‘.'.'ltli lvlonbiot. '.'.rhich include deb; tes on the nature of internat onal boundaries. should be typically liver and l)l'()‘.()(L£til‘.’(l‘.
iAllan HétUCliiiUi
Recommended reading: ()a; Ive State. a tragedy of New 1 abour.
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MELVIN BURGESS
Notorious author goes Norse
Mehxin Burgess is renowned and t'(:‘.'li(}(t for his gritty social realist depictions of youthful drug taking and sexual ext)erimentation Novels such as Junk arid [)o rig /t have won him a vast ree‘idersnip. as well as the ire of the right wing press. Intr‘iguingly. tltough. ire rates his sweeping futuristic noxels Bioodtrde and its brand new. seuuei Bloodsorrg. based on the tragic Nordic Volsung Saga. as his best work. So urnat is the attraction of the fantasy genre to an author so readily associated with conterniior‘ary realism?
'lt's not really so much about the tne airn :s to make these stones conteinporary.‘ says Burgess. 'l'rn not actually a huge fan of fantasy apart from Mervyn Peake [author of (So/'rrierighast]. whose work is characterdriven. The idea of real people driven by events is what l'rn interested in. and the Volsung Saga is a good starting point for that.’
As Burgess admits. his Volsung novels have attracted a cult followmg compared With his works With a contemr)orar‘y setting. which are hugely popular. He also wrny acknowledges that they are less controversial. 'Yes. I've come to the conclusion that the complainers are genuinely less shocked by Violence than they are by sex and drugsf he says. ‘/\nd people who complain or think that kids don't know about these issues are usually guite bonker's.'
Recommended reading: B/oodtrde. Burgess” first gory. chaotic foray into sci fi. i/\llan Radcliffe)
I lee.'i,'1ge Kicks Wit/i r’t/i'eit’ir: Burgess and (lather tire Fisher; .' ’5) zit/g.
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fantasy ~