Tony Benn

Jo Swinson (2018 Event) As deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and a former Government minister, Jo Swinson has seen all too clearly how power can be concentrated in the hands of men right across the business, cultural and political spectrum. Equal Power is the East… SJ Watson (2015 Event) S J Watson can count Dennis Lehane and Lionel Shriver among his fans for his crime debut Before I Go to Sleep, which was later made into a movie with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. The Midlands-born author opens up a shadowy world of identity, lies and… Alaa Al Aswany (2016 Event) In 2002, The Yacoubian Building was an international bestseller, establishing Alaa Al Aswany as one of the Arab world’s most influential voices. Since then, Egypt has changed radically. However, Al Aswany’s novel The Automobile Club of Egypt represents… Donal Ryan & Kamila Shamsie (2018 Event) Donal Ryan's novels are a thrilling journey into the psyche of everyday Irish folk, but From a Low and Quiet Sea departs from his previous three books by extending its setting beyond rural Ireland into war-torn Syria. Kamila Shamsie’s highly praised Home… Mark Billingham with Val McDermid (2016 Event) With over three million copies of his books sold to date, Mark Billingham’s career as a novelist has been a slam-dunk success. And he’s back for more with Die of Shame, his smartest, most unusual thriller to date. When six people meet each week to discuss… Matt Haig at the Edinburgh International Book Festival The modern world can make us feel like the walls are closing in, but a vanguard of writers are here to help us cope – and none more so than Matt Haig. After the storming success of Reasons to Stay Alive comes Notes on a Nervous Planet, a wise and… Stuart Cosgrove: The Soul Of Muhammad Ali (2020 Event) As well as documenting the meteoric rise of one of the all-time sporting greats, Cosgrove shows how soul music formed a soundtrack to an era of social and political turmoil. Join him in this event recorded for the 2020 Book Festival as he talks to… Andrea Levy Andrea Levy's Small Island has won the Orange, Whitbread and Commonwealth prizes. The author speaks in this 2005 event with intelligence and wit about the book and her career… Tony Benn Passionately dedicated to politics and to ordinary people, Tony Benn is a highly engaging speaker. He speaks in this 2008 event about his warm, funny, feisty diaries which record his trenchant views on the political landscape of the past seven years… Seamus Heaney A chance to hear Seamus Heaney, the great Nobel Prize winning poet, reading his own work in this 2006 event, including his major new volume District and Circle. Pure pleasure…