Alan Cumming (2016 Event)

Dividing his time between New York and Hollywood, one of our best-kent Scottish actors has found himself at the centre of an impressive collection of scenes, scrapes and scraps in the world of showbiz. Alan Cumming has now gathered some of his best anecdotes and personal photographs into a charmingly cheeky book, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams. Talking to Sarfraz Manzoor, in this event filmed live at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival, he recounts some of his hysterical, riotous favourites.

Book Festival News

Celebrating the 2024 Book Festival Celebrating the 2024 Book Festival
Monday 26 August

Enjoying this event? You can help us produce more like it.

Donate

Share

Watch more

Laura Bates (2016 Event) Laura Bates (2016 Event) The founder of the influential online project Everyday Sexism, Laura Bates was in the 2014 Woman's Hour Power List Game Changers Top 10 and is becoming well known for her refusal to accept the female stereotypes peddled by a normative mainstream media… Sabrina Mahfouz: Notes on the British Empire Sabrina Mahfouz: Notes on the British Empire Sabrina Mahfouz has often experienced the sly questioning underneath much of British society’s treatment of her: as someone of Middle Eastern heritage, can she be trusted? Confronting what’s at play here, These Bodies of Water takes us to the Middle… James Robertson (2010 Event) James Robertson (2010 Event) Winner of the Saltire Book of the Year award, James Robertson talks to James Naughtie to launch his novel And the Land Lay Still - in an event full of humour and surprises… David Diop & Anna Moschovakis with Philippe Sands David Diop & Anna Moschovakis with Philippe Sands When we imagine the experiences of those who fought in ‘The Great War’, whose perspective are we taking? Perhaps the majority of histories have taken a Eurocentric view. Not French-Senegalese author David Diop, whose unforgettable short novel At Night All… Kathryn Briggs: Art and Resistance Kathryn Briggs: Art and Resistance Kathryn Briggs is an internationally recognised, award-winning graphic novelist, zine creator, arts educator and independent publisher. Her short comics have been featured in anthologies including Treehouse Comic, Dirty Rotten Comics, Meanwhile…, and… Ruth Davidson talks to Katherine Grainger at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Ruth Davidson talks to Katherine Grainger at the Edinburgh International Book Festival They say you should write about what you know – advice Ruth Davidson followed when she embarked on Yes She Can, a treatise on the power of inspirational women. When appointed in 2011, she was the youngest leader of a major UK political party and one of… Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina with Yanis Varoufakis (2018 Event) Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina with Yanis Varoufakis (2018 Event) 'To back down an inch is to give up a mile,' says Maria Alyokhina in Riot Days, her account of Pussy Riot’s extraordinary rise to infamy in 2012. Following an iconoclastic balaclava-clad performance in a Moscow cathedral, Alyokhina and two of her… Olesya Khromeychuk & Christopher Miller: Ukraine - The People’s View Olesya Khromeychuk & Christopher Miller: Ukraine - The People’s View Against the tragedy of war, there is power in bearing witness. Olesya Khromeychuk’s brother Volodymyr was killed in eastern Ukraine and The Death of a Soldier Told By His Sister is her vivid account of sibling love and the grief of loss. Meanwhile… UNBOUND: Words Per Minute UNBOUND: Words Per Minute Performers got 10 mins to impress with whatever creative talent they could offer in this event… Monica Cantieni & Sunjeev Sahota (2015 Event) Monica Cantieni & Sunjeev Sahota (2015 Event) Watch two authors who explore the immigrant experience powerfully in their unforgettable new novels. Monica Cantieni’s The Encyclopaedia of Good Reasons, translated by Donal McLaughlin, tells the deeply moving story of a young girl’s long wait…