FESTIVAL BOOKS LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL
ALL BOOK EVENTS TAKE PLACE AT CHARLOTTE SQ GDNS
E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N A T I O N A L B O O K F E S T I V A L
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✽ HITLIST SEAMUS HEANEY The Nobel prizewinner is in town for what will be an undoubted highlight of the month (if not the year) as he chews some literary fat with Karl Miller and Andrew O’Hagan. Read Ron Butlin, John Burnside and others discussing Heaney’s appeal at list.co.uk/festival. ■ 18 Aug, 6.30pm, £10 (£8).
Michael Morpurgo The ex-Children’s Laureate and author of the monster hit War Horse will be discussing the experience of witnessing the transformation of his books from the small page to the big screen. See Top 5, page 29. 17 Aug, 5pm, £4.50.
Danny Wallace Dave Gorman’s former director of operations unleashes his debut novel on Charlotte Square. Rather conveniently entitled Charlotte Street. What are the chances? Read an interview at list.co.uk/ festival. 18 Aug, 8.30pm, £10 (£8). Irvine Welsh For fans of Spud, Renton and co (can anyone be an actual fan of Begbie?), the publication of Skagboys, the long- awaited prequel to Trainspotting is the book event of the year. See preview, page 29. 18 Aug, 9.30pm, £10 (£8).
Edinburgh World Writers Conference Nile Rodgers The man who changed the face
Harking back to the legendary 1962 gathering, a host of top names gather at Charlotte Square to discuss the same questions that were debated 50 years ago. See feature, page 26. Various dates and times. of pop (c/o his tunesmithery with Chic and Sister Sledge and producer duties with a who’s who of modern music) drops in for some chat about his memoir, Le Freak. See preview, page 28. 19 Aug, 9.30pm, £10 (£8).
Etgar Keret He’s only gone and been dubbed by Salman Rushdie as ‘brilliant’ and by Clive James as ‘enchantingly witty’ so why wouldn’t you want to spend time with this eclectic Israeli writer? See preview, page 29. 16 Aug, 7pm, £7 (£5); 17 Aug, 7pm (£10 (£8).
Nikita Lalwani Meet the creator of Ray Bhullar, the documentary-maker who sees the different sides of Indian life in a potent novel, The Village. Her i rst novel, Gifted, was shortlisted for the Man Booker. Read an interview at list.co.uk/festival. 16 Aug, 3pm, £7 (£5).
Q&A
In her latest novel, KIRSTY GUNN writes of a dying man trying to dei ne his life through a new musical composition. Here she takes on our Q&A
Give us i ve words to describe The Big Music? Family. Landscape. Secrets. A world.
Which author should be more famous than they are now? Alistair MacLeod is a writer who takes breathtaking emotional risk with his short stories and novels and I think has been rather set aside for that reason. Some readers fear that his work is sentimental and narrow in range, returning over and over to the story of Scottish emigration, wanting to speak of the sad loss of home and the attempt to i nd it again. What do you love about book festivals? In a culture seemingly dominated by tweeting soundbites and Facebook ‘likes’, here is an opportunity for writers and readers to participate in the passionate and serious discussion that good writing still generates.
Which dead author do you wish was still alive today? Leo Tolstoy. Every time I return to War and Peace I am in awe of how this writer prostrates himself to the idea of a narrative that is completely outside his control while following its every detail with reverence, humility and love. It would be amazing to spend just an hour with him on the veranda at Yasnaya Polyana having a vodka and cup of tea and talking about where stories come from. And why . . .
What was the last book you read? Robert Macfarlane’s richly realised and deeply felt account of walking, The Old Ways, in which he journeys right into the heart of landscape and across the sea and takes us with him every second along the pathways of his nuanced, textured sentences. (Interview by Brian Donaldson) ■ 18 Aug (with Elliot Perlman), 10.15am, £10 (£8).