Ann Cleeves at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Having already made waves with her crime investigators, Shetland's Jimmy Perez and Tyneside's Vera Stanhope, much-loved author Ann Cleeves introduces us to a new detective in the shape of Devon’s Matthew Venn. She again proves herself to be a master of character development with Venn in her new book The Long Call. What does it take to create a successful protagonist? Find out in this event filmed live at the 2019 Edinburgh International Book Festival, in which she speaks with Lee Randall.

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

Claire Askew & Kate Foster: Tales of Two Edinburghs Claire Askew & Kate Foster: Tales of Two Edinburghs What is it about the Scottish capital that makes it such fertile ground for fictionalised mystery? Claire Askew’s The Dead Don’t Speak sees DI Helen Birch drawn back into action when an anonymous vigilante starts stalking the streets of Edinburgh. Kate… Interview - Innu Poetry from the Canadian Tundra (2015) Interview - Innu Poetry from the Canadian Tundra (2015) Before their very special event with three Innu writers from the Canadian Tundra, Anna Crowe, Rachel McCrum and J L Williams took a few moments to share with us this deeply moving and inspiring translation project. Also hear from some audience members to… Lea Ypi with Allan Little: What Does Freedom Mean in Europe? Lea Ypi with Allan Little: What Does Freedom Mean in Europe? Albania was one of the world’s most isolated countries under the rule of Enver Hoxha during its communist period. Lea Ypi grew up under Hoxha, then witnessed communism’s collapse and the country’s transformation to a flawed market economy. Today, Ypi… Esther Gerritsen & Amy Mason (2015 Event) Esther Gerritsen & Amy Mason (2015 Event) The complex relationship between mothers and their daughters is at the heart of writing by bestselling Dutch author Esther Gerritsen and emerging talent Amy Mason. Both Gerritsen’s razor-sharp third novel Craving, translated into English by Michele… 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… Mariana Enríquez: Argentina's Ghoulish Underbelly Mariana Enríquez: Argentina's Ghoulish Underbelly There is a new generation of Latin American women whose stylish, gothic writing is finding enthusiastic readers all over the world. Alongside Chile’s Lina Meruane and Mexico’s Valeria Luiselli, Argentina has produced a cornucopia of talents including… Aleksandar Hemon: Man’s Inhumanity to Man Aleksandar Hemon: Man’s Inhumanity to Man He’s already celebrated as a leading international author, with books including The Lazarus Project under his belt, but Aleksandar Hemon’s new novel The World and All That It Holds is surely his most powerful yet. Set in Sarajevo in 1914, it’s an epic… Gideon Rachman, Andrew Wilson & Lea Ypi: Follow the Leader Gideon Rachman, Andrew Wilson & Lea Ypi: Follow the Leader Putin, Trump, Erdogan. Why are authoritarian leaders on the rise? Our panel explores their impact on the lives of citizens. Prize-winning journalist Gideon Rachman surveys leadership cults across the globe in The Age of the Strongman; Eastern Europe… Helena Merriman: Undermining the Berlin Wall Helena Merriman: Undermining the Berlin Wall Many of us remember 1989 and the images of people dancing on the Berlin Wall before it fell. Journalist and broadcaster Helena Merriman has focused on the other end of the Berlin Wall story, the early 1960s when it was first built. Based on her… Stuart Kelly: Walter Scott, Writer of the Future? Stuart Kelly: Walter Scott, Writer of the Future? Walter Scott had more impact than any other author on this country. Quite simply, he reimagined Scotland. Previously conceptualised by the likes of Samuel Johnson as ‘primitive’, with a landscape that was ‘horrid’, by the time Scott was done Scotland was ‘…