FESTIVAL BOOKS | Day Planner
As the Edinburgh International Book Festival comes to a close, books editor Kirsty Logan picks the literary legends and top talks you can’t afford to miss
THURSDAY 22 Ronald Frame & Maurice Leitch Havisham author Frame meets with award-winning novelist Leith for a discussion of immortal characters. 10.15am, £10 (£8). Kate Mosse Bestselling novelist Mosse introduces the final part of her Languedoc trilogy, Citadel. 11.30am, £10 (£8). Charlotte Higgins What does Roman Britain mean to us now? Higgins explains in her book Under Another Sky, for which she visited Roman sites all over Britain. 3.30pm, £10 (£8). Where Have All the Brave Girls Gone? Kate Mosse, Samantha Shannon and John Marsden explore heroines in literature – in particular, the lack of strong female adventurers in adult books. 5pm, £10 (£8). Will Gompertz Gompertz’s What Are You Looking At? is aimed at people who want to appreciate modern art, but sometimes can’t tell if they’re seeing art or just junk. 6.30pm, £10 (£8). David Sedaris As part of the Fringe, the confessional humorist performs his one-man show. Venue 150 @ EICC, 6.30pm, £20. DBC Pierre Booker prize-winning author of Vernon God Little discusses his first collection of short fictions, Petit Mal. 7pm, £10 (£8). Neil Gaiman with Charles Fernyhough One of the Book Festival’s guest selectors, cult king Gaiman chats with fellow author and psychologist Fernyhough about The Ocean at the End of the Lane. 8pm, £10 (£8).
FRIDAY 23
Steve Jones Are science and religion really incompatible? Jones’ The Serpent’s Promise aims to retell the Bible from a modern scientific perspective. 11.30am, £10 (£8). The Art of Reading Graphic Novels Author of 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die, Paul Gravett shows you how to get the most from reading graphic narratives. 1pm, £15 (£12). Caspar Henderson & Matt Kaplan From the axolotl to the zebrafish, mythical creatures are explored. 2.30pm, £10 (£8). Samantha Shannon & James Smythe Shannon’s The Bone Season and Smythe’s The Machine signal a new wave of dystopian fiction – here the pair discuss their works. 3.30pm, £7 (£5). Monty Don Described in the Book Festival programme as a ‘horticultural poster boy’, Don discusses his recent journeys around unique French garden spaces. 6.30pm, £10 (£8). Grant Morrison The encyclopaedic comics genius behind Supergods shares his wealth of graphic novel knowledge with some superhero lore. 8pm, £10 (£8). Lauren Beukes & Mikhail Shishkin Two genre-defying authors present their latest timeslip novels. 8.30pm, £10 (£8). Literary Death Match A comic cartoon caper with four authors competing for the coveted crown. 9pm, free. SATURDAY 24
Malorie Blackman The new Children’s Laureate presents her post-apocalyptic novel Noble Conflict. 10.30am, £4.50. Stephen Collins & Tom Gauld The graphic novelists meet to discuss their 98 THE LIST 22 Aug–19 Sep 2013
TALES FROM THE STRIP There are a great many highlights as part of this year’s late-night Jura Unbound series, but few encourage audience participation to quite the same extent as this joint effort from Illict Ink and Graphic Scotland. Stephen Collins and Emma Vieceli (pictured) are among the performers who’ll be reading (and drawing) onstage, while budding comic creators should bring their own materials and join in. (Niki Boyle) ■ 24 Aug, 9pm, free.
respective publications, The Giant Beard that was Evil and You’re All Just Jealous of my Jetpack. 12.30pm, £10 (£8). Stephen Grosz In The Examined Life, psychoanalyst Grosz shows how storytelling affects our psychology – and what happens when we can no longer tell ourselves stories. 2.30pm, £10 (£8). James Tait Black Prize Watch some of the shortlisted authors for this prestigious literary award read from their works before the gongs are doled out. 6.30pm, £10 (£8). Eleanor Catton & Hannah Kent Two fearsomely talented young authors read from their historical mystery novels. 7pm, £7 (£5). Margaret Atwood Completing her Oryx & Crake trilogy, the Man Booker prize-winning author presents MaddAddam. 8pm, £10 (£8). Hannah Berry & Gareth Brookes Sinister and unforgettable, these authors’ new graphic novels explore the gothic and mysterious. 8.30pm, £7 (£5). Tales from the Strip Illicit Ink and Graphic Scotland present an evening of spoken word and live comic-creation. Budding artists welcome. 9pm, free. SUNDAY 25
Helen FitzGerald & Sophie McKenzie These authors’ thrilling novels explore the emotional impact that unfolds when children go missing. 10.15am, £10 (£8). Bryan Talbot & Mary Talbot The husband and wife team behind 2013 Costa Award-winning ‘graphic
biography’ Dotter of her Father’s Eyes return triumphant to the Book Festival. Noon, £10 (£8). 2000 AD: Back to the Future The iconic comic is the subject of this panel discussion featuring writer Dan Abnett and artist Warren Pleece. 3pm, £10 (£8). 9th Art Award Ceremony Inspired by a similar award in France, the 9th Art Award is for the best work of graphic literature published in English anywhere in the world. 5pm, £10 (£8). Caitlin Moran Cultural commentator, journalist, author and prolific tweeter, Moran has been described as ‘Orwell, but with tits’. 6.30pm, £10 (£8). Blueprint Debate: Food Childhood obesity, microwave meals, the horse meat scandal: is it time we rethought our attitude to food? Jo Macsween and Steven Poole host the debate. 7pm, £10 (£8). A Celebration of Iain Banks Three of Banks’ closest friends, Ken MacLeod, Val McDermid and Ian Rankin, discuss his life and work in this celebratory event. 9.30pm, £10 (£8). Songs in the Key of Fife Vic Galloway is joined by some special guests in celebrating the story of newly deceased Fife-based label Fence Records. See Johnny Lynch’s piece on his post-Fence plans, page 65. 9pm, free. MONDAY 26
literature. 11.30am, £10 (£8). Stuart Kelly on Batman Literary critic Kelly examines the many incarnations of the Dark Knight – less a lecture, more of an open discussion. 1pm, £15 (£12). Rutu Modan & Leanne Shapton Israeli cartoonist Modan joins forces with acclaimed US artist Shapton for a discussion of ‘The Graphic Identity’, as part of the Stripped strand. 2pm, £7 (£5). Margaret Atwood & Neil Gaiman The Book Festival’s two big hitters meet to discuss each of their approaches to boundary-crossing storytelling. 4.30pm, £10 (£8). Glyn Dillon & Jon McNaught Dillon’s The Nao of Brown and McNaught’s Dockwood have been much praised – and with good reason. 7pm, £10 (£8). Denise Mina & Andrea Mutti The perfect event for fans of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy: Mina and Mutti are the writer and artist respectively who have reworked the books into graphic novel form. 8.30pm, £10 (£8). Stuart Evers & Paul Harding Harding’s debut novel Tinkers won the Pulitzer; here he launches his second, Enon. 8.30pm, £7 (£5). Robots Dream of Electric Tales A cabaret of retro-futurism, exploring the future as we thought it would be from the viewpoint of the past. 9pm, free.
Horror and Weirdness: A Scottish Peculiarity Margaret Atwood, Valerie Martin and Ian Rankin discuss the grisly, Gothic themes in Scotland’s Unless otherwise stated, all of the above events are at Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, edbookfest. co.uk