The Voices in Our Heads: Creating Characters in Fiction (2014 event) The first sign that a book works is when the characters talk back to their author, and books can represent our internal voices unlike any other art form. A panel of award-winning novelists, Nathan Filer, Edward Carey and Matthew Quick talk about their rel… 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… Mary Costello & Han Kang (2015 Event) 'Heartbreaking' and 'packed with emotional intensity' say the reviewers about Mary Costello's stunning debut novel Acedemy Street, while Han Kang's The Vegetarian is lauded by critics as 'haunting', 'seductive' and … Michel Faber reading A Flash of Blue Light Hear the bestselling author of The Crimson Petal and the White read his new story inspired by the theme of 'Elsewhere'… Alan Bennett Alan Bennett talks about his latest sublime fiction, The Uncommon Reader, in this fun 2007 event. The story revolves around the Queen's dicovery of literature and is full of Bennett's trademark humour and humanity… Roger Robinson: ‘Ordinary Poems Won’t Change the World (2020 Event) Firmly rooted in the dub poetry tradition of his Trinidadian heritage, Robinson’s plain-speaking, fizzy, often joyous verse journeys through our contemporary preoccupations with a seasoned insight few could replicate. From the ongoing injustices of Gren… Andrew O'Hagan A magnificently intelligent essayist, novelist, critic, and a mesmerising speaker. Andrew O'Hagan talks to Magnus Linklater in this 2008 event about politics, Scotland and his recent collection of reportage on a declining Britain and a rising America, The… 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 Scottis… Wendy Cope (2011 Event) The poetry of Kent-born Cope has charmed readers ever since her first collection, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis… Anne Applebaum: Democracy Under Siege (2020 Event) ‘Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all of our societies eventually will.’ Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Anne Applebaum’s bleak prognosis for liberal democracy lies at the hea…