Book Festivai0131 624 5050 g. . I -' Fringe 0131 2260000 . ,,, . , ,, 1.”, , International Festival 0131 4732000 f. “mu-1H,. , ._. “I, 1, Military Tattoo 0131 225 1188 Christina Lamb & Asne Seierstad Film Festival 0131 623 8030 - «

'1”- . ' (f, ('1‘1’3“0 5‘... I: v... ,vr" ,.‘ )2! x ) 1r 1 ‘v Sud 10 :xvrr'i'w. 2' w n ‘. .1»: t 3.0"; 51'. I“. "' ' ° ' I Q‘I‘I V,“ ,‘l . x H, V,‘.K.' ,'.“', , H Chi drens programme a ,. .. ,_. .a , . ,, , ,

'.‘7’.ll’,l "1' rlrrtam, t’ '.a, fhat sat/w ' John Burnside 8: Don Paterson Roy Hattersley ' ' 1"“ ‘0 'z’ra'vs, i /' '7 [mother b’.‘:’.’ :3 it, e {w fir-r intrura' future " r‘ TW- ‘wf

7

‘We were going '\ around pretending .to help Africa and all the numbers were saying the contrary’

GIL COURTEMANCHE

Romance and revolt in Rwanda

Reader, I have failed you. Had I been faster off the mark (and, I guess, female), I could have been the journalist who set off to interview Gil Courtemanche about his compelling novel, A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, and ended up married to him. But that was a couple of years ago when the book was first published. Now, the word on Courtemanche is well and truly out with translations being published around the world.

If i tell you it’s a story set in Rwanda at the time of the 1994 genocide and that those characters who don’t die of AIDS tend to get viciously beaten to death, you might think it's not the book for you. Think again. For all its devastatingly bleak moments, it‘s a powerful celebration of life and love. That’s why it stayed on Quebec’s best seller list for a year: it’s a rich, nourishing, heartbreaking work.

Meeting Courtemanche for lunch in Montreal, I find out why. He's had a varied career from sitcom scriptwriter to chat show host - his expertise on Rwanda stems from making an AIDS documentary there just before the massacre - but underlying all his work is a sensitivity to injustice and a passionate desire to make things better. His unyielding quest for the truth has led to him being sacked from state broadcaster CBC five times. ‘We were not telling things as they were,’ he says. ‘The corruption, the failure of what we call “development nationale", going around pretending we were helping Africa and all the numbers were saying the contrary; they still are.’

TV’s loss is literature‘s gain. But what does this deeply political man, who was a ‘fellow traveller' during the early resurgence of Quebecois nationalism, learn from the implosion of a country when Hutu fought Tutsi? ‘In countries that are rich like Quebec, it's a luxury issue,’ he says. ‘You can afford to play with the idea. The Hutus and the Tutsis lived alongside each other for 500 years. They had this economic social arrangement that was working quite well. There‘s less difference between a Hutu and a Tutsi than there is between an English-speaking Montrealer and a French-speaking Montrealer and we don't go around killing each other. It must be that someone would exploit the only slight difference that there is between us to push us to those extremities of war.’ (Mark Fisher)

I T/m Bind/rig, Gr/ COL/rtemanche <9 Andrew O'Hagan. 74 Aug. 3pm, ‘2 7 (£5).

16 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 7—1.1 Aug 230.3

Jonathan Kaplan & Anthony Swofford '. ' : :‘ '.' "

Julia Blackburn '

; 1' '1' ..,1 2..l* . | t ‘-«I Q Nick Clark & Linda Colley ' I . " v "r., _> H a r“!‘ : .r 1' at i 0., t a "t H ‘I i.‘ [Vila "(;;1""\"‘-.."'.l'.‘»" ' 7'4- “. rate if'- JK " ‘r' r} '.a‘.’: r‘ . .. _ H ,1 ’at T .a~ .r‘ffil’ '._ aft“! .2!“ lo-Ta: .t' 2 l '-

ar‘zl wrurlitr Ht)" : Claw: f‘ :

Andrew Motion. : ' : -' sat

Mahi Binebine & Nada Awar Jarra a301,!" at": mule a.”- '.'W- ‘>Lllrl" TH

“Inuit 'w; rm... N 7'." ' Heroes & Villains : w ;- '~ i' 2

tin /.'.<l. "Hf"; t'. .'." ' ."'

Men; of Kr'st. ‘.'."a'r« a'vi .Ja. m M' :2 -

snafeanah .'.l.'l"t"'v,'ir_, s.»-'.i'. Allan“).

David & Ben Crystal '-,‘ .i‘ortrri, .~ : The lather a'irl Stll‘. Crystals arr-axi- ‘mfh a talk about tl‘r? L;i.".<;ua<;o: 'r' Shakespeare

Sandy Balfour «form, 3 .' :"r'n "as plenty to say about the (,our‘lr‘, "a ohsessrori ‘.'.’llli (:rosst'xortls" ()lue .'.rrter :5. fr

Christopher Hope 8. Doris Lessing -l3();)rr:, .‘I’ 523/, Southern Alrea '5; at a (telleate situation with the hehaurou' oi

Robert Mugabe threaterunu to (lestatnlrse

the whole region Two prorrirner‘f '.r,~:<:er; iron: the area discuss this hot ii)[)|’j. Imprisoned Writers 3.30pm: ‘ree tickets, Dunrlee's hottest poet Den Paterson appeals on behalf of the incarcerated.

Ben Okri 6.30pm, 5‘8 «to, See Sat 9. The Writing Business (;_-::3pm 5 '3 z“ i, Krrirlres' author (Lather'rie Ma<;P'=ar: m, today's (turtle to reaching the top, Monica Ali, David Peace & Dan Rhodes 7pm. £8 Ii‘tir. Japan-hase: Yorkshire'rtan Davrrl Peace has l;l(,fltl’;‘.:’ a superb series of books hasetl aruarirl Peter Sut(:litte, Nl‘ilO our r(:‘./r(:.‘.'(:' descrrherl Dan Rhorles' [WED/00" Leena Come Home. as a ‘|,«rr<:al .rersion at The Lrtt/est Hoho' which wonderful and moving .vork' See pre‘xrew for Monica All.

Perspectives on Progress 7 30pm rm. The first of a ten heavy ar‘rl heated discussions as we liVC‘éiStlt‘: on the notion of progress.

Marjory Fleming & Mark Twain 7.30pm, 58 46/, Who's Marjor, Fleming? Dunno But Mark Tnarr‘ thought the Edinburgh lass Has (Lute

.vas an ".rrxusaa' hit

sori‘ethrrig. Hear SOlYYC readings ‘rr," both of tie: oeuvres.

Ian Pattison «Born, 58 art» The r"a" behind Rat) C Neshrtt recertti, mote 9‘ a Sweet arru Terrier Hoe/roan. about a (:ruei ex-eort rmo disappeared .‘xrzt‘i

hzs reu'elator, n‘err‘oir To t‘ s 'irstress. "e

got an opinion ,about a Show? react@lrst.co.uk

Raja Shehadeh ~

Patrick French ~

Spiegelbar '~

Monday 1 1

Children’s programme

Ron Butlin & Andrew Greig

Barnaby Rogerson on Mohammed

.'-‘.x°.l' 1"" b ;III :I ' i" '.' l l' ' . difl". ' Alan Ayckbourn ' fit-:"“mt ,.iI""1§,' : . (.7, "!f) il':.'“:'(i’. Tiara til

Jr ’ler‘rfi 3- u '1 : r' ' Barbara Ehrenreich ‘.

Clonal satww 1n

Barbaravlnr-m. l '-:::

Tom Hart Dyke & Paul Winder who": : r' :" l"~' :' 1' :-" i"i:l.' 'l‘lii‘, i" I win'. 6. "

enrlerl .ll) lmi" ; v:' 17-- :5 .-

;}ur:r'r:lai, .. : f'rlK ; »'

Con Coughlin & James Naughtie

"41H ‘:""'2 firth"

‘:Xl.‘:""":ér u" (1' rl.“‘ "

",at'ie : 'li‘u,’ " ; "-

’lefatur exarirn:

:ti’l€:fll‘:‘.‘:§,"

Tim Slessor : .

‘1.’, :1 [1/1 )‘,.‘, .1.

()t(‘;‘, ‘rl! () III a i r.‘, u faith!" r-,-. z. ..v:' _;, t l : .

:rb‘h [3‘1'1'51’ ’/ (,' ‘3.":"’.‘> l,‘:"'i L", . " ' Linda Colley 1.9". : ,' 2 ’."."r .‘.r.- rr‘torr' er: <3...“ aim .' '.' Myer, ' Merlin Holland ’; ’10: .4 ,' : :i‘ “:Eill, hat/oe'ury: a‘ " r,- f' a

T71: .203 (wily/my, ,‘ (r1.

I‘I/|!,:‘:" ) i I I x I. .‘m , '1 Robert Hutchi son 8. Andrew Sinclair

T": ‘t/li‘r'f‘,

Christopher Lee -: :C: "

f‘\J(l[/‘:. 'LII. ‘71" (' ll; "1' ;;

"hi’fl :1, (/r‘ "1' I)..." I." //';".‘.rrv1.'; 1' .‘f .‘f'i' (till/fit", ._l; {1‘1 .'/’//‘,

Susan Sontag : '

" ill' r" '1‘ S‘:‘: i.":. ‘:.‘.

imprisoned Writers ."J‘fL'S ', J5]. ' ’§ 311-34", 3 .' ::{/, .' cerseox a"

Metamorphoses .4 " a