Festival Books list.co.uk/festival
Hitlist FESTIVAL BOOKS *
✽✽ Suhayl Saadi It doesn’t get any more ambitious than the sprawling epic Joseph’s Box from this ever-inventive Glasgow author. 27 Aug, 4.30pm, £6 (£4). ✽✽ Frank Gardner The BBC man is here to talk about the more bizarre and absurd encounters he’s had on his journalistic travels. 30 Aug, 6.30pm, £9 (£7). ✽✽ Steve Toltz With a varied CV to his name (private eye, cameraman, telemarketer among his previous jobs), this Aussie has settled rather nicely into the job of full-time author, getting a Booker nomination for his debut, A Fraction of the Whole. See page 66. 28 Aug, 10.15am, £9 (£7). ✽✽ Tobias Hill Poet and novelist Hill is fascinated by secrets and these have permeated his fiction so far. The suitably-titled Hidden is his most recent exploration. See page 66. 29 Aug, 10.15am, £9 (£7). ✽✽ Susie Orbach The western world’s obsession with the perfect body has pretty much got out of control and the woman who helped treat Diana’s bulimia wants us to know there is something we can do about it. Read Bodies and see her here. See page 65. 29 Aug, 4.30pm, £9 (£7); 30 Aug, 7pm, £9 (£7). ✽✽ Mark Millar The Scottish comics guy is now a Hollywood player thanks to the likes of Wanted but he’ll never fall out of love with his chosen craft. See page 67. 29 Aug, 8pm, £9 (£7). ✽✽ Douglas Coupland He kicked off his wonderful career with Generation X and he’s now gone full circle with Generation A. See page 65. 30 Aug, 8pm, £9 (£7). All events take place in Charlotte Square, unless otherwise indicated. The box office number is 0845 373 5888 and the website is www.edbookfest.co.uk
DAVID SIMON OK, so if you didn’t know it by now, The Wire is officially ‘the best TV drama series ever made’. Everyone from Jay-Z to George Osborne have professed their love for the now defunct Baltimore show while arts journalists at the Guardian are forced to sign a pledge of allegiance to David Simon’s baby before they are allowed through the door. The man himself is in town as is one of his screen scribes, Richard Price, whose novels include Clockers and last year’s Chandleresque Lush Life. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Richard Price, 28 Aug, 8pm, £9 (£7); David Simon, 29 Aug, 8pm, £9 (£7).
The ancient history of Scotland is a subject which fascinates Margaret Elphinstone and provides the basis for her fiction. Here, she dips into our Q&A Give us five words to describe The Gathering Night? Our hunter-gatherer past in Scotland. Which author should be more famous than they are now? Harry Thompson’s novel This Thing of Darkness is the best 21st century historical novel I have read. What do you love about book festivals? Relaxing in the café when one’s own event is over, the adrenalin subsides, and one can just enjoy what everyone else is saying and doing and writing. Which dead author do you wish was still alive? Pytheas the Greek. I would like him to tell me what was in his lost manuscript About the Ocean. What were the Celts really like in 320BC? And did he get to Iceland? Or was it Norway? Who gave him the sailing directions? And was he upset by the bad reviews when no one back in Massilia would believe a word he said? What would you change about the publishing world? I would make it possible for small, independent, local publishers to produce fascinating, maverick, experimental, subversive lists of old and new authors, irrespective of mass-market economic demands, global anxieties, huge prizes for the few and mind-numbing conformity. (Interview by Brian Donaldson) ■ 28 Aug (with Janet Paisley), 8.30pm, £9 (£7).
S R E D N O S S A L G U O D
: O T O H P
5QUESTIONS
N N A C C M Y R R E G
: O T O H P
64 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 27 Aug–10 Sep 2009