Celebrating Scotland
We need little excuse at the Book Festival to discuss Scottish history, politics and society or to celebrate the quality and depth of Scottish fiction and poetry. We have the added incentive this year because it is 250 years since the birth of our national bard Robert Burns.
As part of Homecoming Scotland 2009, we have created a series of events called Celebrating Scotland which between them explore Scottish history from the Ice Age to the Enlightenment, follow the footsteps of Scots who have influenced the world beyond our shores, and capture elements of Scottish society in all their beautiful detail.
Look out for events on emerging Scottish talent which celebrate some of the finest unpublished authors from across the creative writing schools of Scotland - including Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews. Plus we have some of the finest prose and poetry Scottish literature has to offer - over 200 authors in this year's programme are Scottish - from the unpublished to the internationally renowned, all supported by the Scottish Government's Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund.
You can search the programme online now. Choose 'Celebrating Scotland' from the strand menu to bring up the vast array of Scotland-focused events at this year's Book Festival. Tickets go on sale at 8.30am on Monday 22 June.
Our Celebrating Scotland events include:
- Fred Freeman launches our Celebrating Scotland series with a look at an unknown Burns
- Roderick Graham, Edwin Moore and Harry Reid consider the lives and work of David Hume and John Calvin
- Tom Devine examines the flowering of intellectual and scientific achievement in 18th century Scotland
- James E Fraser and Alistair Moffat travel back to the very beginning of Scottish history
- Maggie Craig and Murray Pittock look at the Jacobite Rising of 1745, one of the key moments in Scottish history
- Robert Crawford, Andy Hall and Donald Smith discuss why Burns is so important to us today
- Alexander Moffat and Alan Riach deliver a thought-provoking insight into the purpose of art and literature in contemporary Scottish society and culture
- Gerard Carruthers and Ian McIntyre analyse Burns' beliefs and motivations
- Chris Dolan and Daniel Gray highlight Scotland's role in the Spanish Civil War
- Beyond Devolution focuses on the 10th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament
- The Bard in Edinburgh looks at how Edinburgh and its writers have been influenced and inspired by Burns' poetry
- Jenni Calder and Roger Hutchinson tell stories of Scots in the Wild West
- Alexander Broadie and Bruce Lenman discuss Scottish philosophical tradition and the Enlightenment
And there are many, many more . . .
