FESTIVAL BOOKS WEEK PLANNER
All events at Charlotte Square Gardens and priced £10 (£8) unless stated. Compiled by Brian Donaldson SATURDAY 11
Julia Donaldson The Glasgow-based Children’s Laureate kicks off the Book Festival with a performance-based show in which she brings life to stories such as The Gruffalo and Superworm. Hubbie Malcolm will be on hand to help things along. 10am, £4.50. Mary Contini The Valvona & Crolla owner is in the Gardens this year to talk sausage as she launches her new book, The Italian Sausage Bible. Noon. Caroline Moorhead The horrors of the Holocaust will never (and should never) leave us, and, in A Train in Winter, Moorhead has spoken to Auschwitz survivors for a powerful biography. 3.30pm. Tom Watson The scourge of Rupert Murdoch has made it his goal to have the standards of journalism brought under the public microscope and here he talks about a monumental couple of years for the media and for Britain. 8pm. Ewan Morrison It’s been a busy old year for the Glasgow-based author, with his excellent Tales from the Mall being joined on the shelves by a new novel, Close Your Eyes, which features a woman trying to discover the truth about the mother who abandoned her three decades earlier. 8.30pm. SUNDAY 12
AC Grayling Having penned a ‘secular bible’, Grayling is now unleashing his own university. Come and learn about his audacious work. 11.30am. Darren Shan With props provided by the Edinburgh Dungeon, the author of the new Zom-B series talks about werewolves, vampires, demons and other things you check under the bed for at night. 1.30pm, £4.50. Janice Galloway Setting fiction to one aside, Galloway is making waves on the memoir front with All Made Up the splendid second instalment. 3pm. Prue Leith In conversation with Sue MacGregor, the esteemed food writer chats about her life in and beyond the kitchen. 4.30pm. Ben Marcus & Colson Whitehead Satirical horror is the name of the game here. If you dare, get hold of Marcus’ The Flame Alphabet and Whitehead’s Zone One before popping along. 6.45pm. Unbound The festival’s regular exploration of the areas where words, music and performance clash has an impressive roster during August including the likes of Nile Rodgers, a Literary Death Match and a showcase of Iceland’s writerly talent. 9pm, free. MONDAY 13
AL Kennedy The Dundee-born author may have branched out into the world of stand-up comedy in recent times, but here she’s back talking books and in particular the often difficult process of getting those words onto the page in the first place. 11.30am. Nell Freudenberger & Krys Lee Two of America’s brightest new literary talents get together with Lee chatting about her short story collection, Drifting House, and Freudenberger discussing her novel, The Newlyweds. 3pm, £7 (£5). Ronald Reng Reng’s A Life Too Short is a difficult but essential read for anyone who wants an insight into the troubled mind of sporting heroes 34 THE LIST 9–16 Aug 2012
UNBOUND: NIGHT-TIME STRAND
As wonderful as the Edinburgh International Book Festival is – and believe us, it is wonderful – the leafy confines of Charlotte Square Gardens, the village fete-style white tents and the hordes of latte-sipping Guardianistas can sometimes make the whole shebang feel a bit, well, safe. Thank goodness then for the Unbound strand – a more rambunctious younger sibling to the Fest, curated each night by some of the finest avant garde literary organisations from Scotland and beyond. Each event takes a unique theme: the ‘Magic Words’ night combines spoken word and stage magic from members of Writer’s Bloc and Illicit Ink; ‘The Fable of the Hungry Icelander’ features appearances from Scandic poet/musician/ author Sjon and fellow writers Audur Ava Ólafsdóttir and Kristín Ómarsdóttir; and Glasgow’s own Words Per Minute hosts a night of ‘Big Time Sensuality’, with Sarah Hall, Jenni Fagan and Alan Bissett, as well as folk-rock duo Two Wings. For full listings, see edinburghfestivals.list.co.uk. ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 12–27 Aug, 9pm, free.
fighting their inner demons. In German goalkeeper Robert Enke’s case, he tragically lost that battle. 6.45pm. Jess Richards & Sjon Sjon played air guitar for the Sugarcubes and Richards grew up ‘too fast’ in Stranraer. Both are here to talk about their books, which connect people to the sea. 7pm, £7 (£5). Coraline with Neil Gaiman & Chris Riddell It’s a whole decade since Neil Gaiman’s story of a lonely girl was published and here the festival’s Illustrator-in-Residence joins the author to discuss the special anniversary edition they have worked on together. 8pm, £7 (£5). TUESDAY 14
Ned Beauman & Nick Harkaway With The Teleportation Incident, Beauman is continuing to prove that he has an idiosyncratic voice very much worth hearing, while Harkaway’s Angelmaker features sinister cults and shady lawyers. 10.15am. James Gleick He’s explored Chaos and Genius and now Gleick delves into The Information with a look at the pioneers behind the mass of data and images we are bombarded with on a daily basis. 2pm. Clive Stafford Smith The apparently warped criminal justice system in the USA has kept British-born lawyer Stafford Smith busy for many years and in his new book, Injustice, we learn of yet further travesties in the Land of the Free. 3pm. Alexander McCall Smith More entertaining business form the
massively popular author as he does more of his kids stuff with Precious and the Mystery of Meerkat Hill, as we flash back into Mma Ramotswe’s early life and first ever case. 3.30pm, £4.50. Philip Hughes & Kathleen Jamie The great outdoors is the area of intrigue for Hughes and Jamie. In Tracks, Hughes discusses his walks across Britain featuring rambles over Islay and Orkney, while Jamie’s Sighlines explores the weird edges of wildlife. 7pm. Tony Black & Gordon Ferris The future of Scottish crime writing seems in pretty safe hands with this pair about. Modern Edinburgh is Black’s terrain while Ferris has penned successfully about post-war Glasgow. 8.30pm. WEDNESDAY 15
Gillian Slovo The acclaimed South African writer and commentator turns her attention back to the time of General Gordon and the tragic siege of Khartoum with An Honourable Man. Noon. Daniel Tammet Maths genius Tammet shares his world with us in an hour of entertaining equations and fascinating fractions. 3.30pm. John Fardell The former List cartoonist discusses The Day Louis Got Eaten and offers children the opportunity to help him create a new story. 3.30pm, £4.50. Raja Shehadeh The Orwell Prizewinner discusses Palestine, politics and playwriting. 7pm.
Impro-Slam In this fast and furious event, performance poets go head to head and see who can tough it out the longest. It won’t be like those rap battles, though, so you won’t need to take shelter from all the rude words (we think). 8.30pm, £7 (£5). THURSDAY 16
Samantha Harvey & Tim Lott Family matters are at the heart of Harvey’s All is Song and Lott’s Under the Same Stars, particularly the tough bonds between brothers. 10.15am. Claire Tomalin Dickens’ passionate biographer celebrates his bicentenary with a new book that looks at various facets of his world which revealed a complex and contradictory character. 3pm. Patrick Ness One of the country’s pioneers in the Young Adult fiction game is here to chat about A Monster Calls, his award-shortlisted new novel. 5pm, £7 (£5). Elsewhere For a couple of years, the festival has commissioned short tales form an array of wonderful writers such as Roddy Doyle, Alan Warner and Yiyun Li and those endeavours have now been realised with the project being published. This launch event features appearances from key contributors. 7pm. Christopher Brookmyre Always one of the popular draws of the festival, Brookmyre is here with his annual new novel, this one is entitled When the Devil Dares and features the uncovering of decades of vice in Glasgow. 9.30pm.