2007 News Archive

12 October 2007

Nobel Prizes for Book Festival speakers

Two keynote speakers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival have received Nobel prizes within two consecutive days. One of the festival's most regular, dedicated and beloved guests, Doris Lessing is this year's recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature; while Al Gore, who galvanised a capacity crowd with an inspirational, last-minute special event at the 2006 festival, is named today as a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Catherine Lockerbie, director of the Book Festival, said: "We are overjoyed at the recognition bestowed on these great figures who have so captivated audiences in Charlotte Square Gardens. Doris Lessing is determined to come to Edinburgh every year, she is one of our most popular and eagerly awaited speakers each August. She epitomises what I hope is the spirit of this festival: fearlessly shedding sharp new light on the world through words. Al Gore's commitment and passion on the subject of climate change shone through every second of his late night event for us. It is the aim of this festival to bring the world's greatest writers and thinkers to Scotland, and we are privileged and delighted to have hosted so many Nobel Prize-winners, often invited by us before they win this highest of accolades."

In addition to this year's winners, 10 Nobel Prize-winners have appeared at the Book Festival since 2001. The line-up includes: Harold Pinter, Seamus Heaney, Orhan Pamuk, Joseph Stiglitz, Sir John Sulston, Dario Fo, V S Naipaul and Toni Morrison.

28 August 2007

Edinburgh International Book Festival announces 80% of tickets sold in 2007

Organisers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival today announced record ticket sales for 2007 with 54% of events selling out completely. 80% of tickets were sold across the 700 events and, despite the unusually wet weather, over 200,000 people have visited Charlotte Square Gardens during the 17 days of the Festival.

The Book Festival this year has featured 650 authors from 40 countries. Highlights included Alan Bennett reading from his new novel, An Uncommon Reader, where the Queen discovers literature, transatlantic appearances and book signings by Norman Mailer and Alice Munro, Ian Rankin launching Exit Music, the 20th and final Rebus novel and rock stars lining up with leading writers to talk about their collaboration in the Ballads of the Book. Seven of the thirteen 2007 Man Booker nominees appeared in Charlotte Square Gardens this year, including Ian McEwan, Anne Enright and A N Wilson.

Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival said "We've had a superb response to the Book Festival this year, with people turning out in large numbers not just for the major names, but for little known overseas authors also. From our revolutionary and highly successful LongPen events, with Norman Mailer and Alice Munro speaking and signing books from thousands of miles away, to a group of Bengali writers travelling specially from Kolkata, audience reaction to our events and themes has been notably eager, enthusiastic and engaged. Demand for sharing ideas and talking about books seems never to have been higher."

The Book Festival has, as always, been a forum for political debate and free speech with First Minister Alex Salmond speaking on Scottish Independence, leading political commentator Andrew Marr discussing nationhood, human rights Lawyer Clive Stafford Smith calling for an end to 'extraordinary rendition' flights landing in Scotland, and Germaine Greer describing Princess Diana as 'a devious moron'.

A total of 127 schools took advantage of the Festival's ever-popular Schools' Programme and over 13,300 pupils attended schools events with authors such as Julie Hegarty, Anthony Horowitz, Charlie Fletcher and Mairi Hedderwick. The RBS Schools Gala Day on 28 August welcomed 2,800 primary school children from across Scotland to a range of events and activities.

In a special Autumn Book Festival event in association with Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature, Booker winner Michael Ondaatje will be bringing his major new novel, Divisadero to Edinburgh on Tuesday 2 October. He will be speaking at the Queens Hall at 8.00pm and tickets can be booked here on the Book Festival website or with the Queens Hall Box Office on www.thequeenshall.net or 0131 668 2019.

27 August 2007

Niall Ferguson tells Scotland: be careful of what you wish for

Scottish born Niall Ferguson, Professor of History at Harvard and one of the world's most influential thinkers, told a capacity audience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival that Scotland should be careful of what it wishes for: 'My sense is probably that sooner or later, and probably rather against their wishes, the Scots will find themselves on their own. Be careful of what you wish for - because it might come'. Ferguson made the point that the realities of independence were economically unsustainable: 'Independence is a wonderful thing to sing after a few pints in Murrayfield but rather different when you wake up in the morning and have to balance the books.'

But in contrast to the current debates held in Scotland, Ferguson believes independence might come not because of political activity north of the border but instead because of English nationalism: 'Entrepreneurial activity is reviving but there is still a big leap to be made about life without subsidies. The English might wake up one morning and say actually come to think of it this is rather expensive - goodbye!'

In typical good-humoured fashion, Ferguson played down the differences between Scots and the English and says Scotland is no more than Northern Britain: 'I'm always surprise at how very English the popular culture is up here. This is North Britain, not a foreign country. And I don't think [independence] will end up in tears but in yawns - suddenly the Scots will find out what it feels like to be Danish.'

27 August 2007

Taner Akçam uncovers a hidden war crime of tragic dimensions
and asks essential questions about modern Turkey's responsibility

Taner Akçam discussed the intricacies of the Armenian genocide of 1915, and raised questions about modern Turkey's acknowledgement and responsibility this morning at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in Charlotte Square Gardens.

His exposition on the 'shameful act' committed in the name of national security tunnelled back to the Balkan Wars of 1912, when the Ottoman Empire lost some 80% its territory, and 60% of its population. This huge trauma and subsequent weakness, he argues, are to blame for a heightened fervour for national identity and the resultant demographic policy of homogenisation.

Bolstered by finely tuned research on the investigations 'against those who committed crimes against humanity' Akçam outlines three separate failed attempts to bring the culpable to justice. In 1922, a weighty 63 trials involving 300 defendants resulted in 16 death sentences meted out. Three were completed. In 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference, an international court derailed the trial. A third attempt by Great Britain stagnated on the paltry Western archive. Muddied by Mustafa Kemal, who stated as early as 1920 that the 'children of the country' should not continue to be punished the multifarious and intertwined difficulties of reaching resolution today are just as profound.

Which brings Akçam roundly to the gross discrepancy between evidence records, and the duality of a nation with 'different subcultures, different collective memories', and a general unwillingness to recognise the enormity of it. Quelled by Turkish government, who still deny the atrocities committed as uncoordinated, unplanned, and hence not genocide by definition, as recently on a protester's placard 'No genocide but defence of the homeland' Akçam speaks of the hatred he and his fellow intellectuals Elif Shafak and Orhan Pamuk have experienced. Perceived as 'insulting Turkishness' and 'enemies of the nation' all believe the past needs to become a dialogue before Turkey can become unified.

Asked about the problem of Armenia, with a blocked border on one side, an enemy neighbour on the other and a dissipated land at the heart of it, Akçam ended on a note of optimism with a Turkish prayer: animals get together by smelling one another, people by talking. He hopes for a time when enemies can sit opposite one another and knit their stories into that of one voice; to reopen channels and build a new democracy.

26 August 2007

Edinburgh International Book Festival a fantastic forum for debate

With one full day of events still to go, almost 80% of tickets have sold at the 2007 Edinburgh International Book Festival, which is an increase on 2006 and, despite the unusually wet weather, over 200,000 people have visited Charlotte Square Gardens during the last fortnight.

The Book Festival this year has held over 700 events featuring 650 authors from 40 countries. Highlights included Alan Bennett reading from his new novel, An Uncommon Reader, where the Queen discovers literature, transatlantic appearances and book signings by Norman Mailer and Alice Munro, Ian Rankin launching Exit Music, the 20th and final Rebus novel and rock stars lining up with leading writers to talk about their collaboration in the Ballads of the Book. Seven of the thirteen 2007 Man Booker nominees appeared in Charlotte Square Gardens this year, including Ian McEwan, Anne Enright and A N Wilson.

Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival said "We've had a superb response to the Book Festival this year, with people turning out in large numbers not just for the major names, but for little known overseas authors also. From our revolutionary and highly successful LongPen events, with Norman Mailer and Alice Munro speaking and signing books from thousands of miles away, to a group of Bengali writers travelling specially from Kolkata, audience reaction to our events and themes has been notably eager, enthusiastic and engaged. Demand for sharing ideas and talking about books seems never to have been higher."

The Book Festival has, as always, been a forum for political debate and free speech with First Minister Alex Salmond speaking on Scottish Independence, leading political commentator Andrew Marr discussing nationhood, human rights Lawyer Clive Stafford Smith calling for an end to 'extraordinary rendition' flights landing in Scotland, and Germaine Greer describing Princess Diana as 'a devious moron'.

A total of 127 schools took advantage of the Festival's ever-popular Schools' Programme and over 13,300 pupils attended schools events with authors such as Julie Hegarty, Anthony Horowitz, Charlie Fletcher and Mairi Hedderwick.

Still to come, on Monday 27 August, Turkish author Taner Akçam will speak on the 1915 Armenian genocide, cult writer, and inventor of the term 'cyberspace' William Gibson brings his brand new novel to Scotland, Kate Adie and Jonathan Kaplan will discuss life on the front line and Clarissa Dickson Wright launches her revealing new memoir Spilling The Beans.

In a special Autumn Book Festival event in association with Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature, Booker winner Michael Ondaatje will be bringing his major new novel, Divisadero to Edinburgh on Tuesday 2 October. He will be speaking at the Queens Hall at 8.00pm and tickets can be booked through www.edbookfest.co.uk or 0845 373 5888 or with the Queens Hall Box Office on www.thequeenshall.net or 0131 668 2019.

26 August 2007

Lucy & Stephen Hawking wow capacity audience at Book Festival

Lucy Hawking ran a "Who Wants to be a Cosmic Questioner" competition at a preview event for her new book George's Secret Key to the Universe at the Edinburgh International Book Festival today, inviting her audience to think of science problems to ask her co-author, and father, Professor Stephen Hawking.

The audience were asked to think of a range of questions, which were then narrowed down in a vote to three. Lucy then phoned her father, Professor Hawking at home in Cambridge, and his answers to the three questions were broadcast live to the enrapt audience.

"How far away from the sun do you have to be before you are incinerated?" was asked by Duncan Bauchop (12 yrs old) from Edinburgh, who said "the event was out of this world". Professor Hawking answered "10 million miles."

The second question "What happens to something when it's swallowed up by a black hole" was posed by Christina Benitscheck (11) from New Mexico, USA who said "It was lots of fun, I loved the cool pictures of Lucy doing zero gravity and it made me want to learn more about the Universe".

This is the first time ever that this technique has been used live with Professor Hawking and
Lucy Hawking commented after the event, "I was thrilled by the response from the audience when we went surfing the solar system at the Edinburgh Book Festival today. The kids' questions were brilliant and I loved their open-mouthed reaction to my Dad's voice over the live link-up."

George's Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking is published by Doubleday on 13th September priced £12.99. An exclusive interview with Lucy and Stephen will be appearing in The Times on 8th September.

20 August 2007

General Sir Michael Rose calls for impeachment of Tony Blair

General Sir Michael Rose, former commander of the UN Peacekeeping force in Bosnia told the Edinburgh International Book Festival that Tony Blair should not escape censure for taking the country to war in Iraq under false pretences.

Sir Michael, who called for the former Prime Minister's impeachment when he was in office, said that had a military commander committed similar errors and caused similar destruction he would have been marched off to jail for forty years. "I don't think he should be allowed to walk off into the sunset unscathed to pick up a million pounds for memoirs nobody will read," he said.

Sir Michael, whose book Washington's War, compares the errors made by Britain in the American War of Independence with the American mistakes in Iraq, said that while modern generals read history and understood its lessons, politicians like Tony Blair and George Bush did not. He also asserted that it was the British Prime Minster who had pushed Bush into the invasion by falsely claiming that the bombardment of Kosovo and the removal of Milosovic had brought peace to that region.

20 August 2007

Andrew Marr asks what is independence for?

Andrew Marr delivered the Donald Dewar Memorial Lecture this evening at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in Charlotte Square Gardens and asked his capacity audience to consider why an independent Scotland would be better or different. He said that the important questions were being pushed to one side by a series of demeaning arguments about who pays for what, subsidies and other second order political debates.

He made a plea for a discussion about the future of Scotland and independence saying "Scottish Nationalism has not demonstrated why, and, interestingly, Unionism has not demonstrated why not."

Marr said that if he'd been able to title this lecture, he would have called it "Home Thoughts From Abroad" as he is now living in London, which he often feels is more than 400 miles away. He was born into a Scottish unionist family and through his early reading - Scots Tales of A Grandfather, Nigel Prebble, Nigel Tranter - he absorbed a "romantic, almost racial, nationalism" where he thought the English arrogant, devious and not to be trusted. "This idea is so pernicious and stupid that Mel Gibson is its standard bearer - possibly the stupidest man in Hollywood".

He became more left wing through the literature he read as a student, and believes that almost everyone who campaigned for independence in the 1980s wanted a Socialist Scotland, Scotland as a distinct and separate entity. He commented that it was a great irony that the Scottish Parliament has finally come about at a time when politics has never been so unpopular.

Referring to the recent poll that placed over 60% of respondents believing that Scotland would become independent he said "I believe Scotland and England will go different ways, but I don't think that will be the end of Britain. There will still be a British Parliament - it's more complicated than that," and when what he thought of the future of Northern Ireland he said "I think an independent Scotland will hasten the unification of Ireland".

He believes that there are three key issues for Scotland's politicians and electorate today - of the three, the least important is terrorism and security saying "Terrorism is an acute threat but not something we can go out and do something about ourselves - there are big British foreign policy issues involved". Of secondary importance is social inequality - "This has been talked about for so long but there are still a large number of our fellow citizens living lives affected by crime, lack of education and poverty". However, he believes the most important issue is climate change - "this is such a big issue, politics has barely begun to grasp how we need to change our lives. Nervous democratic politicians don't want to think about it."

When asked what he thought of the calibre of politicians today, given that their reputation is only marginally higher than estate agents and journalists he answered "If I was the Dictator of the UK for a couple of days I would cut the number of elected politicians in Westminster and Holyrood and double their salaries. This would be my most important policy."

15 August 2007

New Rebus title to be announced at Book Festival

Ian Rankin will reveal the title of his new Rebus novel at his event at the Edinburgh Book Festival event tomorrow. (Thursday 16 August 2007).

Both the title and the contents of the new Rebus novel have been kept strictly embargoed until now. Fans of the series will know that 2007 marks not only the 20th anniversary of the Rebus series but also John Rebus's 60th birthday.  And because Ian writes the books in 'real time' this means that Edinburgh's most famous cop has to hand in his badge. 

Speculation has been growing about what the future holds for DI Rebus and questions have been asked in the Scottish Parliament.  Is this the end for Rebus?

The Edinburgh International Book Festival opened on Saturday and has enjoyed record crowds over the first five days, despite the inclement weather. Sell out events have included appearances by Alan Bennett, Margaret Atwood, Alexander McCall Smith and Katrin Himmler. The first ever transatlantic public event using the innovative LongPen system, invented by Margaret Atwood was a huge success, with Andrew O'Hagan in Charlotte Square chatting to Norman Mailer in Provincetown, USA.

The Book Festival continues until Monday 17 August 2007 and there are still plenty of events available including Sarah Chayes, Nikita Lalwani, Blake Morrison and Ben Okri and a full children's programme with events for toddlers to teenagers.

The new Rebus novel will be published on 6 September 2007 at £18.99

12 August 2007

Norman Mailer LongPen event "a triumph" at Edinburgh International Book Festival

The first transatlantic public event using Margaret Atwood's LongPen invention was unveiled at the Edinburgh International Book Festival today with Andrew O'Hagan in Charlotte Square Gardens talking to legendary US author Norman Mailer from his home in Provincetown. With the use of this extraordinary new technology, Mailer spoke for an hour, answering questions from a capacity audience, and remotely signing a number of books.

Mailer opened the conversation saying "The best experience I ever had was at the Edinburgh Book Festival - I wish I could be there in person" and went on to discuss Hitler, the Second World War and being Jewish describing the moment his mother had told him that Hitler was going to kill all the Jews, saying "There hasn't been a day since I was 9 years old that I haven't thought of him". He used the platform to denounce Blair and Bush, wondering whether Bush could even spell democracy and how Blair could have ever got involved in "such a stupid war".

On Andy Warhol he said "I detested his work. I thought it was the downfall of civilisation" and on his film career he added "I always wanted to be a general. As a Director, I got to be a general". And on his own reputation "For years people were literally afraid of me. I threw a few punches around, but they were always well considered".

Members of the audience exiting the event described it as "a triumph".

Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival said "We knew this event would be extraordinary and it lived up to all expectations. This was a high risk, pioneering event, with extremely new technology and a writer who is notoriously technophobic. Not only did the technology work like a dream, Mailer spoke superbly, giving major new insights into his life and work."

The 2007 Edinburgh International Book Festival opened on Saturday morning to the wonderful music of the Soweto Gospel Choir and record first day sales. Over 80% of tickets over the weekend were sold, and over 26,000 people crowded in to Charlotte Square Gardens despite the inclement weather.

The festival continues until Monday 27 August, with authors such as Margaret Atwood, Douglas Hurd, Graham Swift, Pat Barker, Sebastian Faulks and Jeremy Paxman still to appear.

10 August 2007

Special extra event announced

The Edinburgh International Book Festival announced today that Scotland's First Minster Alex Salmond will be appearing at Charlotte Square Gardens on Wednesday 15 August at 6.00pm. In this special extra event, Mr Salmond will be in conversation with leading journalist and broadcaster Iain Macwhirter in the Highland Park Spiegeltent.

Tickets for this event will be available on-line (www.edbookfest.co.uk), over the phone (0845 373 5888) or can be purchased from the Box Office in Charlotte Square (open daily from 9.30am to 8.30pm).

Edinburgh International Book Festival opens at 9.30am on Saturday 11 August, with 650 authors appearing from 40 countries. Over 220 events have already sold out including appearances by Alan Bennett, William Dalrymple, Germaine Greer, Clarissa Dickson Wright, Joyce Carol Oates, Lionel Shriver and Katrin Himmler, however with over 700 events in the programme there is still plenty to see. Tickets are still available this weekend for Ghada Karmi, Edmund White, Raj Persaud, Rosie Boycott, Philip Gourevitch, Nick Laird and Daljit Nagra among others.

10 August 2007

Man Booker longlist announced - seven authors appearing at Edinburgh International Book Festival this month

The longlist for the prestigious Man Booker Prize was announced today, and seven out of the thirteen authors listed are appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August.

Anne Enright (26 August at 10.15am), Mohsin Hamid (22 August at 6.00pm), Michael Redhill (23 August at 7.30pm), Indra Sinha (25 August at 4.30pm) and A N Wilson (20 August at 3.30pm) are all in with a chance of winning this major literary award. As is Ian McEwan, who is making his only Festival appearance this year at Edinburgh on 24 August at 11.30am.

Also on the list is Nikita Lalwani with her first novel Gifted. Born in Rajasthan and brought up in Cardiff, she writes touchingly of a young maths prodigy, Rumi, coming of age in a complex cultural hinterland and will be appearing in Charlotte Square on 21 August at 6.00pm.

Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said "This is a wonderfully diverse and interesting list, and quite unexpected, with some major literary names left off and some fresh new names in there alongside Booker veterans.  I'm delighted that 7 of these authors will be appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this summer - big literary names but also lesser known authors I chose for the excellence of their fiction as well as their vital and eye-opening perspectives on other cultures. It is particularly gratifying when new work and international work, which we champion at EIBF, is given the seal of approval of the Man Booker Prize also.

Moshin Hamid is an important contributor to our East and West series and emphasis on the Muslim experience in the west. Nikita Lalwani, born in Rajasthan, is part of our first fiction series with a wonderfully touching debut. Michael Redhill is part of our Focus on Canada, Indra Sinha is included in our major Focus on India theme with his powerful work on the aftermath of the Bhopal disaster. We always have a strong Irish presence and Anne Enright is a favourite of the Book Festival. We'll provide a great chance to hear them all before the short-list is announced.

8 August 2007

Edinburgh International Book Festival opens imminently

With two days to go until the opening of the 2007 Edinburgh International Book Festival, over 75,000 tickets have been sold and 225 events have sold out across the Adult and RBS Children's Programmes. The most popular authors who sold out on the first day of ticket sales were Alan Bennett, Andrew Marr, Jeremy Paxman and Charlie & Lola and have been followed by the likes of Germaine Greer, Paddy Ashdown, Joyce Carol Oates and Julian Clary.

However with 650 authors from 40 countries appearing in over 700 events there is still plenty available - on the opening weekend it is possible to buy tickets for Ghada Karmi, Philip Gourevitch, Saul David, and Will Self, while Alexander McCall Smith has agreed to add an extra event on 15 August after his first three appearances sold out.

Late additions to the programme include actress Jane Lapotaire on Monday 13 August, Martin Goodman talking about the extraordinary Scottish scientist John Scott Haldane (who was born in Charlotte Square) on Tuesday 14 August and John Dickie in conversation with Mary Contini about the wonderful food of Italy also on Tuesday 14 August.

Special guests announced yesterday include, Lord Owen, the former Labour Foreign Secretary and leader of the Social Democratic Party will be joining Raj Persaud in the Psychiatrist's Chair on Sunday 12 August to discuss politics, power and the mistakes made by world leaders.

Joining Josephine Hart on Wednesday 22nd August to read some of the wonderful poems from her anthology Catching Life By The Throat, will be world-renowned actors Edward Fox and Dame Eileen Atkins.

27 June 2007

Record first week of ticket sales for Edinburgh International Book Festival

Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, today collected an Honorary Doctorate from The University of Edinburgh following the announcement that the Book Festival has experienced a record number of bookings in the first week of box office sales with a remarkable 45% increase over the same period in 2006.

Since tickets went on sale last week, three new events have been added to the programme. In a Festival exclusive, Yann Martel will return to Edinburgh on 26 August. Martel first read at the Book Festival in 2002 before Life of Pi went on to win the Man Booker and to sell millions of copies worldwide. This summer he will be presenting for the first time the new illustrated Life of Pi, a work of rare beauty. Also on Sunday 26 August, Liz Niven will take her audience on a Sunday morning poetic journey through Scotland and beyond.

Martin Goodman will be telling the story on Tuesday 14 August of a truly extraordinary Scot, John Scott Haldane, one of the greatest and most colourful of British scientists. Experimenting on himself and his children, he solved medial mysteries and saved countless lives. He invented the gas mask by gassing himself and his son, he designed the first space suit and discovered canaries could be send down mine shafts among many other innovations.

The demand to see world class authors such as these, some of whom have chosen Edinburgh as their only festival appearance this year, has surpassed all expectations. The overall number of people accessing the website has more than doubled as book lovers in Edinburgh, across Scotland and from as far afield as California and Australia, rushed in their thousands to buy tickets from the minute bookings opened, with a degree of enthusiasm and eagerness that can only be compared to Britain's most popular music festivals.

With over 700 events programmed for August there are still plenty of opportunities to meet authors, hear readings and participate in debates, with tickets available for topics as diverse as science, history, current affairs and a unique combination of international writers.

Catherine Lockerbie said "It has been an extraordinary week - we have never seen such demand for tickets which, given that each event is unique and one-off, has led to inevitable frustration for some people.  We have sold record numbers in these opening days. Given that the programme is diverse and challenging, with many as yet unknown names alongside the familiar ones, that gives me enormous cause for optimism in people's curiosity and appetite for exploring words and ideas.  There are still hundreds of opportunities to discover someone new and extraordinary, and plenty of tickets available across the programme".

19 June 2007

Unprecedented demand for Book Festival tickets

The Edinburgh International Book Festival experienced unprecedented demand on the first day of bookings with a record number of tickets sold. The first event to sell out was Alan Bennett's appearance on Saturday 11 August, closely followed by Andrew Marr and Jeremy Paxman.

Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the Book Festival said "The demand for tickets this year has been phenomenal and I am delighted that our programme is proving so popular. I am particularly pleased that in addition to the top names, our new and exciting international authors from 40 different countries around the world are also proving of interest."

"We have experienced some technical difficulties despite having greatly increased capacity for booking on the telephones, over the internet and at the Box Office in Waterstones. The number of internet transactions today increased by 900% against last year - a demand we simply couldn't have foreseen."

There are still plenty of tickets available for the majority of the 700 events this year including the transatlantic book signings with Norman Mailer and Alice Munro as well as a wide range of events in the RBS Children's Programme.

14 June 2007

Launch of 2007 programme for truly international Book Festival

Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, today launched the 2007 Programme with the announcement that two of the greatest living authors, Norman Mailer and Alice Munro, will be appearing in the world's first public transatlantic interviews and long distance book signings. Norman Mailer will be in conversation with Andrew O'Hagan and Alice Munro will be interviewed by fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood, before they sign their books using Margaret Atwood's unique and ground-breaking LongPen invention.

Running from 11 to 27 August, and with 650 authors participating in over 700 events, this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival will be the most international ever with more than 40 countries represented, and nearly 200 Scottish authors taking part!

Special themes this year include Focus on India, bringing the finest writers on and from the subcontinent in this the 60th year since Independence and Focus on China gives an in-depth look at the economic and cultural transformation of the world's most populous country. Writers of the World brings new writers from around the world, while East & West examines relations between the Islamic world and the west, with a special focus this year on British Muslims.

Catherine Lockerbie said: "We are extremely proud to have created a programme of truly global reach this year and to have discovered entirely new ways of including the world's great writers. Thanks to Margaret Atwood's visionary genius, outstanding authors thousands of miles distant will be brought to the Book Festival public with startling immediacy and intimacy, complete with book signatures. It is an astonishing addition to the ways in which ideas and thoughts transmit in live encounters - the passion which drives our festival. We're immensely excited to be welcoming so many inspiring writers and thinkers, from so many nations, to the vibrant heart of Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature."

The adult programme is complemented by a full children's programme with events, workshops and debates for every age group from toddler to teenager. Sara Grady, Director of the RBS Children's Programme said "It has been sheer joy to cultivate an environment of words and ideas to engage, encourage and entertain children, families and young people. The brilliance of the RBS Children's Programme relies fundamentally on the exceptional authors attending and we are thrilled to have such a variety of writers, illustrators, comics, poets, performers, graphic novelists and artists in a celebration of stories unlike any other in the world."

Founded in 1983, the Edinburgh International Book Festival is the largest festival of its kind in the world. Under Catherine Lockerbie's directorship, it has become a platform for audiences to debate with leading thinkers from the worlds of science, politics, business, economics and journalism as well as literature.

Ticket prices have been frozen for the seventh consecutive year with more free events than ever before! This makes our programme not only the highest quality array of literary riches anywhere, but at the most accessible prices of any comparable event.

4 June 2007

Book Festival announces new media partner

The Edinburgh International Book Festival and Times Newspapers Ltd today announced a major new media sponsorship deal. Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the EIBF said "The Book Festival has grown to global pre-eminence over the last few years, and our reputation is further enhanced with this association with one of the UK's leading newspapers." The association is worth a six figure sum over three years, and Magnus Linklater, Scotland Editor of The Times said "The Times is delighted to be sponsoring this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival, which has grown into Britain's greatest and best-loved literary event. We look forward to joining authors and their readers in the tented splendour of Charlotte Square, and to supporting the discussions and debates which make this a uniquely enjoyable celebration of writing."

The Edinburgh International Book Festival will run from 11 to 27 August in the beautiful setting of Charlotte Square Gardens in the heart of historic Edinburgh, the world's first UNESCO City of Literature. A truly international celebration of books and reading, this year's Festival will welcome authors, politicians, journalists, poets and thinkers from over 40 different countries with the biggest ever programme of discussions, debates and readings. Major themes this year include Focus on China and India, looking back at the history of these fascinating countries as well as looking forward at the global implications of these two fast growing economies. In this, the 60th year since India gained her independence, and 150 years since the Indian Mutiny, the Book Festival brings together the finest writers on and from the subcontinent. Slavery Stories introduces books on white slavery, the abolitionists of the Atlantic slave trade and new forms of slavery in the 21st century while East & West examines relations between the Islamic world and the West with a special emphasis on British Muslims. Visitors to Charlotte Square can also enjoy the hugely popular philosophy and psychology series, Matters of the Mind.

17 January 2007

Edinburgh International Book Festival announces the new Director for its RBS Children's and Schools Programme

The Edinburgh International Book Festival has announced that Sara Grady, formerly Head of Children's Books and Events at Blackwell Edinburgh, has been appointed as the new Children and Education Programme Director. She will be responsible for planning and creating the acclaimed RBS Children's Programme and RBS Schools Programme of events at the Book Festival - one of the largest programmes of live literary events for young readers in the world. Sara Grady takes over from Karen Mountney, who was the Children's Programme Director at the Book Festival for the last four years.

in association with