Audio Recordings and Transcriptions
The recordings and transcriptions featured here are just a small selection of the huge number of events at the Book Festival every year. The recordings are unedited and last for approximately one hour.
Almond, David 17 August 2005
Amis, Martin 4 Oct 2006
Atwood, Margaret 28 Aug 2005
Atwood, Margaret 10 Oct 2006
Baverstock, Alison & Morgan, Nicola 22 Aug 2005
Baverstock, Gillian 26 Aug 2006
Benn, Tony Tues 15 Aug 2006
Brink, André 20 Aug 2005
Burgess, Melvin 25 Aug 2005
Cassidy, Cathy 14 Aug 2005
Collins, Billy 28 Aug 2006
Craig, Carol - Encouraging Confident Individuals 16 August 2006
Dawkins, Richard 19 Aug 2005
Doyle, Roddy 27 Aug 2006
Foreman, Michael & Morpurgo, Michael 27 Aug 2006
Gray, Keith Mon 29 Aug 2005
Heaney, Seamus 25 Aug 2006
Higson, Charlie Sun 13 Aug 2006
Kennedy, A.L. 15 Aug 2005
Lessing, Doris Mon 14 Aug 2006
Levy, Andrea 15 Aug 2005
Lochhead, Liz Mon 29 Aug 2005
McCombie, Karen 20 Aug 2005
McCaughrean, Geraldine & Reeve, Philip 22 Aug 2006
McGough, Roger (children's event) 18 Aug 2006
McGough, Roger (adult event) 19 Aug 2006
McLean, Alan - The Motivated School 21 August 2006
Marr, Andrew 24 Aug 2005
Masters, Alexanders Mon 14 Aug 2006
Morpurgo, Michael 22 Aug 2004
Mortimer, John 16 Aug 2006
Muldoon, Paul 26 Aug 2006
Nicholson, William 18 August 2005
Nimmo, Jenny 20 August 2005
Palmer, Sue - Toxic Childhood 18 August 2006
Politkovskaya, Anna 14 Aug 2005
Rankin, Ian & Mina, Denise 17 Aug 2006
Rosoff, Meg Sun 13 Aug 2006
Rowling, J.K. 15 Aug 2004
Rushdie, Salman 27 Aug 2005
Smith, Ian - Fostering Creativity 17 August 2006
Spark, Muriel 22 Aug 2004
wa Thiong'o, Ngugi Mon 14 Aug 2006
Toksvig, Sandi 26 Aug 2005
Wilson, Jacqueline 28 Aug 2004
Winterson, Jeanette 21 Aug 2004
Winterson, Jeanette, Tanglewreck 17 Aug 2006
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David
Almond
Weds 17 August 2005
A fantastic opportunity to hear one of today's most respected and acclaimed writers for young people, and the author of the award-winning Skellig and The Fire Eaters talk about his writing.
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Martin
Amis
Weds 4 October 2006
The first in our October series of events and a cause for celebration: a rare visit to Scotland by one of the most admired and influential writers of his generation. Martin Amis launches and talks about his new book.
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Margaret
Atwood
Sun 28 August 2005
Novelist, poet, critic and essayist of global renown and influence, Margaret Atwood's Book Festival event sold out in a matter of days. Here she reads some of her short stories and poetry - a delightful hour.
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Margaret
Atwood
Tues 10 October 2006
She is one of the world's most gifted and eminent authors, on a special visit from Canada to receive the Scottish Arts Council's Muriel Spark International Fellowship. Always an entertaining speaker, here she talks about life as a writer.
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Adolescence:
Alison Baverstock & Nicola Morgan
Mon 22 August 2005
A
fascinating and reassuring insight into adolescence, for teenagers and
their confused parents and teachers. Alison co-authored Whatever! on
parenting teenagers which has had a dramatic effect on the families the
author worked with. Nicola's Blame My Brain uses new scientific
research to comprehend this much misunderstood time of life. A thoroughly
enlightening experience!
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Growing
Up with Enid Blyton
with
Gillian Baverstock
Sat 26 August 2006
Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the publication of Mallory Towers, Enid Blyton's daughter, Gillian Baverstock, shares her memories of growing up with one of the world's best-loved children's authors.
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Tony Benn
Tues 15 August 2006
The fastest selling event at the 2006 Book Festival, Tony Benn, a captivating speaker, enchants his audience with wit and unquenched passion.
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André Brink
Sat 20 August 2005
Hear from one of the most important voices coming out of South Africa. His new novel has been many years in the making and is a mesmerising achievement in a remarkable career.
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Melvin
Burgess
Thurs 25 August 2005
Well known for producing controversial, demanding - and prize-winning - teen fiction Melvin Burgess is now regarded as one of the best writers of contemporary children's literature. He talks here about the significance of myth and about his new book Bloodsong, the sequel to Bloodtide.
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Cathy
Cassidy
Sun 14 August 2005 10am
Fans of Jacqueline Wilson's books for older readers will love the wonderfully warm characters in Cathy Cassidy's instantly popular Dizzy and Indigo Blue.
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Billy
Collins
Mon 28 August 2006
One of the most popular poets on the planet and former US Poet Laureate.
In his first ever visit to the Book Festival he speaks with perfect perception about the revelatory detail of our daily lives.
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Encouraging Confident
Individuals with Carol Craig
Wed 16 August 2006
The Curriculum for Excellence lists, as one of the four purposes of education, the development of 'confident individuals'. In this talk Dr Carol Craig, chief Executive of the Centre for Confidence and Well-being and author of The Scots' Crisis of Confidence outlines what confidence is and how it can be nurtured in children.
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Richard
Dawkins with Muriel Gray
Fri 19 August 2005
One of the world's greatest living scientists - the Charles Darwin of our day talks to Muriel Gray about his extraordinary investigations of evolution and his passion for the wonders it contains and reveals.
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Roddy Doyle
Sun 27 August 2006
Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle previews his brand new novel; funny, dark and brave - a major Book Festival event.
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Michael
Foreman & Michael Morpurgo
Sun 27 August 2006
A unique opportunity to hear one of the most successful and best-loved writing and illustrating partnerships in conversation. Between them they have worked on over 250 books for children and remain firm favourites of Book Festival audiences.
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Writing
The Fearful with Keith Gray
Mon 29 August 2005
An hilarious speaker and extremely popular with teen audiences, the award-winning Keith Gray talks about the themes and ideas behind his latest novel and also about the actual nuts and bolts of the writing process.
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Seamus
Heaney
Fri 25 August 2006
A chance to hear the great Nobel Prize winning poet reading his own work including his major new volume of poetry District and Circle. Pure pleasure.
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Blood
Fever with Charlie Higson
Sun 13 August 2006
The popular Charlie Higson brings fans the latest ingenious installment of the Young Bond series, featuring the world's most enigmatic spy as a teenager.
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A.L.
Kennedy
Mon 15 Aug 2005 8pm
Fasten your seatbelts as one of Scotland's most original minds delivers an hour of utterly exhilarating comic observation - AL Kennedy as you have never seen her before.
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Doris Lessing
Mon 14 August 2006
A great favourite at the Book Festival and one of the most revered figures in English literature reveals the full force of her literary intelligence.
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Andrea
Levy
Mon 15 Aug 2005 11.30am
Andrea Levy's Small Island has won the Orange, Whitbread and Commonwealth prizes - hear an author of boundless wit and intelligence and find out why.
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Liz
Lochhead
Mon 29 August 2005
Rejoice in the wit, charm and warmth of a captivating poet and performer. Brimful of the most wonderful language, this event was the perfect conclusion to the 2005 Book Festival.
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Meet
Karen McCombie
Sat 20 August 2005
The popular creator of Ally's World gives a sneak preview of book five in her irresistible Stella Etc series of books. She also talks about her instant hit Marshmallow Magic and the Wild Rose Rouge and answers loads of questions from her young fans in the audience.
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Geraldine McCaughrean
& Philip Reeve
Tues 22 August 2006
Hear two of today's most inventive writers for teens in conversation. Philip talks about A Darkling Plain, the final novel from his brilliantly imagined quartet, set in an extraordinary world where mobile cities are powered by engines. While Geraldine reveals the writing process behind her recent imaginative novel, The White Darkness, set in the frozen wastelands of the Antarctic.
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Roger
McGough (children's)
Fri 18 August 2006
A joyous return to Edinburgh by the 'patron saint of poetry' - he enchanted his young audience with a lively bit of chat and some fantastic poetry.
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Roger
McGough (adult)
Sat 19 August 2006
A joyous return to Edinburgh by the 'patron saint of poetry' - simply hearing him read his own work is a blissful experience. He has also written an autobiography filled with his usual idiosyncratic humour and humanity - a life irresistibly told.
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The Motivated School
with Alan McLean
Mon 21 August 2006
Alan McLean is Principal Psychologist in Glasgow and was commissioned by the Scottish Executive to produce The Motivated School training programme. This programme provides tools and activities to help teachers reflect on the motivational capacity of their classrooms. Alan also talks about The Learning Stances, a framework which examines how learners adapt to and engage in the learning climate.
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Andrew
Marr
Weds 24 August 2005
The first ever visit to the Book Festival of the BBC's Political Editor was our fastest selling event this year. With his outstanding intelligence and colourful descriptions of Westminster shenanigans he talks about his trade and brings us inside stories from the world of politics.
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A Life Backwards with Alexander Masters
Mon 14 August 2006
Alexander Masters' biography of homeless Stuart Shorter has been hailed by critics as startling, remarkable, rare, haunting and uplifting. In this utterly absorbing event, he asks how a life can follow such a troubled journey and explores the reality all too often obscured by alarmist labels pinned on young people by society and the media.
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Michael
Morpurgo
Sun 22 Aug 2004
Award-winning children's laureate Michael Morpurgo is a gripping speaker and a firm favourite with youngsters (and adults). He talks about his work, in particular his new book Private Peaceful, a story about a soldier at the front in the First World War.
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John
Mortimer
Wed 16 August 2006
Utter delight in the company of one of the most effervescent minds in the land, creator of Rumpole of the Bailey and now a wonderful new comic novel, Quite Honestly.
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Paul
Muldoon
Sat 26 August 2006
Pulitzer Prize winning poet Paul Muldoon has been called 'the most important English language poet born since the Second World War'. Hear the power of his forthcoming work here.
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William
Nicholson
Thurs 18 August 2005
A gifted and imaginative writer, William Nicholson returns to the Book Festival with the first book in his new trilogy Seeker, an extraordinary adventure full of magic, glory and truth.
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The
Castle of Mirrors with Jenny Nimmo
Sat 20 August 2005
Youngsters spend an entertaining hour with Jenny Nimmo, author of over thirty books. Here she talks about the darkly funny fourth instalment of the excellent Children of the Red King quintet and tells all about Charlie and his friends and how they conquer their evil enemies!
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Toxic Childhood with
Sue Palmer
Fri 18 August 2006
The number of children in the developed world diagnosed as having developmental or behaviour problems is rising by 25% each year. Former head teacher and literacy expert Sue Palmer has researched a diverse range of 'problem areas', from poor diet to modern factors such as mobile phones, television and increasingly stressed parents. An illuminating revelation of the issues behind the general concerns about children's health, providing some answers on how to ensure children emerge as healthy, intelligent and happy adults.
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Anna Politkovskaya
14 Aug 2005
An outstandingly courageous critic of the current Russian regime, journalist
and author Anna Politkovskaya has been the recipient of numerous international
honours. Sadly she was found shot dead in a lift at her apartment block
in Moscow on 7 October 2006. She was one of our most welcome guests at the Book
Festival in 2005 and spoke compellingly about her work and also her
fears for her life. In tribute and in memory, and because the Book
Festival will always uphold freedom of expression and thought, we are
making her talk (translated from Russian) available for all to listen
to.
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Ian
Rankin & Denise Mina
Thu 17 August 2006
Always one of the most popular Book Festival authors and an international bestselling phenomenon to boot, Ian Rankin is interrogated by fellow crime writer Denise Mina in a revealing Book Festival first.
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Just
in Case with Meg Rosoff
Sun 13 August 2006
Will you step in front of a bus today or win the lottery? The author of the breathtaking bestseller How I Live Now, talks about her utterly compelling new book about fate and what happens when fate doesn't like you.
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J.
K. Rowling
Sun 15 Aug 2004
J K Rowling gives her first Harry Potter reading in Scotland for four years to celebrate the Book Festival's 21st birthday. A magical event.
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Salman
Rushdie
Sat 27 August 2005
A rare and exciting visit to the Book Festival by one of the most important writers of the last fifty years. His novel, Midnight's Children was voted the Booker of Bookers - his brand new work is Shalimar the Clown and he talks about it here.
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Fostering Creativity
with Ian Smith
Thu 17 August 2007
How can teachers foster creative thinking in the classroom? Based on the idea that creative thinking does not just happen but needs to be nurtured and developed, Ian Smith examines practical ways to foster and develop both your own creativity as a teacher and that of your pupils. Ian is one of Scotland 's foremost teacher developers who has worked with over 30,000 teachers exploring how people learn.
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Muriel
Spark
Sun 22 Aug 2004
Celebrations for our 21st birthday were crowned by the first ever visit of Edinburgh and Scotland's greatest living writers. In an exceptionally rare public appearance in her home city she speaks of her long and extraordinary career, with chair Alan Taylor. A unique event with a surprise at the end!
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Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Monday 14 August 2006
One of the most important living African writers and a legend in his native Kenya. This rare visit to Scotland had audiences spellbound - a thrilling start to our opening week.
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Hitler's
Canary with Sandi Toksvig
Fri 26 August 2005
Clever, funny and sharp-witted, Sandi Toksvig is a fantastic entertainer and writer who is just as much at home talking to children as she is adults. In this event she thrills 9-12 year olds with her account of a childhood spent under occupation, which forms the basis of her novel, Hitler's Canary.
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Jacqueline
Wilson
Sat 28 Aug 2004
One of Britain's best-loved and most successful writers is also a firm favourite at the Book Festival. This is a fantastic opportunity to hear her talking about her latest book Best Friends and answering a lot of questions from the audience.
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Jeanette
Winterson
Sat 21 Aug 2004
Lighthousekeeping, in which motherless Silver is taken in by Mr Pew, keeper of the Cape Wrath lighthouse, is an extraordinary homage to R L Stevenson by one of the most startlingly original and brilliant novelists at work today. Jeanette Winterson is also one of the most compelling readers of her own work. An hour of literary bliss.
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Tanglewreck
with Jeanette Winterson
Thu 17 August 2006
Jeanette Winterson's remarkable first novel for young readers is a compelling adventure full of brilliance and wit. Here she thrills her young audience as seemingly effortlessly as she entrances adults. Another firm Book Festival favourite.
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