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TOP TIPS
A longer selection of this week’s best events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
12 AUG A STONE’S THROW Bosco Theatre, 12–16 Aug, 10.30am, £5 Start the day with this family show at the Book Festival’s new space on George Street. In A Stone’s Throw, Giddy Aunt Theatre tell the story of a girl who knocks the sun from the sky, through live music and puppetry.
PADDY ASHDOWN Charlotte Square Gardens, 5pm, £12 (£10) The former leader of the Lib Dems discusses his new non-fiction book, Game of Spies, in which a Special Operations agent is betrayed by the Resistance in Nazi-occupied France.
ARAVIND ADIGA Charlotte Square Gardens, 5.30pm, £12 (£10) The author of the Man Booker Prize-winning The White Tiger returns to chat about his latest novel, Selection Day, an insightful look into modern India told through the story of two brothers pushed by their father to be cricket stars.
PAUL HAWKINS Charlotte Square Gardens, 6.45pm, £12 (£10) The author of runaway success The Girl on the Train – recently made into a hit Hollywood film starring Emily Blunt – released her second book Into the Water, earlier this year.
LIMMY Charlotte Square Gardens, 8.15pm, £12 (£10) You’ll know Limmy from Twitter, if you don’t already know him from TV. His latest book That’s Your Lot distils his offbeat humour into a collection of short tales, and he’s just as entertaining on the page as he is on screen.
13 AUG SPECTACULAR TRANSLATION MACHINE
The Greenhouses, 10.30am–5.30pm, free This all day installation offers a glimpse into the translation process. Drop in and take part, with the help of real literary translators, as the Book Festival attempts a mass translation of a new French book that’s yet to be published in the UK.
Top Tips | FESTIVAL BOOKS
WILL SELF Denise Mina
Charlotte Square Gardens, 5pm, £12 (£10) In his most recent work, Self turns his attention to the object that most of us can’t live without – our phones. Here, he talks to Stuart Kelly about how phones are continually changing the present.
RACHEL MCCRUM & MIRIAM NASH
Bosco Theatre, 6.30pm, £12 (£10) See two of Scotland’s finest poets chat about their debut collections. Nash captures the sound of island voices in All the Prayers in the House, while McCrum’s The First Blast to Awaken Women Degenerate is one of our favourite debuts of recent years.
NO DOGS, NO INDIANS Garden Theatre, 7.30pm, £15 (£12) Part of the festival’s India & Pakistan: 70 Years On series, Siddhartha Bose marks the anniversary with an evening of performance, music, reading and talk about the legacy of the British in India.
OUTRIDERS: THE REUNION Charlotte Square Gardens, 8.45pm, £12 (£10) For their Outriders series of events, the Book Festival sent five Scottish writers on a journey across the Americas, each accompanied by a local writer. Here, all 10 Outriders – including playwright Stef Smith, poet Harry Giles and novelist Jenni Fagan – get together to talk about their travels.
14 AUG SEBASTIAN BARRY
Charlotte Square Gardens, 11.45am, £12 (£10) Celebrated Irish author talks about his latest book, Days Without End, set in 19th century America.
JAKE HOPE & AMY MCKAY ON A MONSTER CALLS
Charlotte Square Gardens, 1pm, £15 (£12) Alert to all Patrick Ness fans: here’s your chance to talk about his hit novel A Monster Calls with other likeminded book fans. Librarians Hope and McKay lead the discussion, in this event marking the 80th anniversary of the CILIP Carnegie Medal.
METAPHROG: THE LITTLE MERMAID
Bosco Theatre, 2.30pm, £5 Scotland’s acclaimed graphic novel duo present their latest work, an exquisitely illustrated version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.
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15 AUG
NADEEM ASLAM Charlotte Square Gardens, 2pm, £12 (£10) The novelist chats about his latest, The Golden Legend, in which a Christian woman and Kashmiri man fall in love in an intolerant Pakistani city.
INSPIRING STORIES WITH MEG ROSOFF
Charlotte Square Gardens, 5.30pm, £5 Since Mal Peet’s death in 2015, Rosoff has been completing his final novel, Beck. Here, she reads from the coming-of-age story.
NIKESH SHUKLA Charlotte Square Gardens, 8.30pm, £8 (£6) See feature, page 41.
UNBOUND: AFTER DARK Charlotte Square Gardens, 9pm, free Argentinian writers Mariana Enriquez and Samanta Schweblin are joined by two of Scotland’s most exciting musicians, Rachel Newton and Ela Orleans.
16 AUG JACKIE KAY Charlotte Square Gardens, 1.30pm, £12 (£10) Scotland’s Makar premieres a new poem, commissioned to mark the 100-year anniversary of Wilfred Owen’s stay at a Craiglockhart Hospital, where he met Siegfried Sassoon.
SABRINA MAHFOUZ Bosco Theatre, 6.30pm, £12 (£10) Writer and performer Mahfouz this year edited the impressive collection, The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write, featuring work from 20 women including Kamila Shamsie and Asma Elbadawi.
17 AUG DEAR ZOO TURNS 35 Charlotte Square Gardens, 1.30pm, free Celebrate the 35th anniversary of Rod Campbell’s cross-generational favourite Dear Zoo with an afternoon of animal-themed activities.
SIRI HUSTVEDT Charlotte Square Gardens, 1.30pm, £12 (£10) Acclaimed novelist and commentator comes to Edinburgh to chat about her work, A Women Looking at Men Looking at Women.
ELIF SHAFAK Charlotte Square Gardens, 7pm, £8 (£6) Celebrated Turkish author returns to the festival to talk about her 10th novel, Three Daughters of Eve, a tale set in Oxford and Istanbul.
DENISE MINA Charlotte Square Gardens, 7.15pm, £12 (£10) One of Scotland’s best crime writers talks about her latest work, true crime novel The Long Drop.
TEJU COLE PAUL AUSTER AT 70
UNBOUND: THE DONALDSONS
Charlotte Square Gardens, 4pm, £12 (£10) The author of acclaimed novel Open City returns to the Book Festival to talk about his latest work, Blind Spot, which looks at writing and photography. King’s Theatre, 6.30pm, £15 In this much-anticipated event, presented together with the Edinburgh International Festival, the author of the New York Trilogy talks about his life and work.
ANDY HAMILTON STRIKE BACK!
Charlotte Square Gardens, 3.15pm, £12 (£10) The co-creator of Drop the Dead Donkey and Outnumbered comes to Charlotte Square to discuss his first ever novel, The Star Witness. Charlotte Square Gardens, 9pm, fee Julian Donaldson and her husband Malcolm go late-night on us, with music and stories for over 18s.
10–17 Aug 2017 THE LIST FESTIVAL 43