Video 2008
Richard Dawkins
Mon 11 August 2008
One of our most popular speakers and a brilliant evolutionist, polemical in his attack upon religion as an explanation of our world, Richard Dawkins was one of our fastest-selling events of 2008. In this short excerpt, in conversation with Paula Kirby, atheist and former Christian, he tackles life on Earth and the rest of the universe.
Sean Connery & Murray Grigor
Mon 25 August 2008
On the day of his 78th birthday, Scottish film icon Sean Connery chats with his friend and co-author Murray Grigor in an event that proved to be the fastest-selling in the Book Festival’s 25 year history. If you didn't manage to get a ticket, you can now see some edited highlights here.
Salman Rushdie
Sun 24 August 2008
Master storyteller Salman Rushdie returned to the Book Festival in 2008 to talk about his sumptuous new novel The Enchantress of Florence with Ramona Koval. This is a short extract filmed live at the sold-out event where he describes what influences his writing.
Arkady Babchenko
Sun 24 August 2008
Former Russian conscript who fought in Chechnya, Arkady Babchenko was unable to make it to his Book Festival event on Sunday 24 August due to the situation between Russia and Georgia. Here he makes a special, very personal, recording for the Book Festival for our Anna Politkovskaya memorial event.
Sean Connery and Murray Grigor
For our launch in June and in advance of his event on Monday 25 August, Sean Connery and his co-author Murray Grigor, made this video especially for the Book Festival...
Book Festival video and features on other websites
There has been great interest in Book Festival authors and events this year with more filming taking place on site than ever before. We've gathered a small selection of links to various different websites which feature interesting video snippets and interviews with authors for your viewing pleasure - take a look and get a taste of the 2008 Book Festival.
Video of authors Nury Vittachi, Maggie O'Farrell, Alex James, Richard Holloway, Steven Berkoff. The official guide to all the festivals in Edinburgh and a fantastic place to see lots of festival features including video, interviews, news items, photo galleries, city guide and more.
Videos of authors Katherine Whitehorn, Tony Benn, Menzies Campbell, David Lodge, Andrew O'Hagan, Libby Purves, Chuck Palahniuk.
Interview with Steven Berkoff
Renowned children's author Michael Morpurgo and the Book Festival's Children & Education Programme Director Sara Grady talk to BBC News about the issue of book banding.
Bill Paterson on STV's The Five Thirty Show (starts 8.50 mins into video)
Alex James on STV's The Five Thirty Show (starts 3.34 mins into video)
Mark Thomas on his book and appearance at the Book Festival on the BBC's The Culture Show
Photographer Murdo MacLeod's montage of images from the Edinburgh festivals
Robert Dawson Scott introduces author Charles Leadbeater at the Book Festival
Sean Connery launches his memoirs at the Book Festival
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