How We Kept The Conversation Going in 2020

Hari Kunzru: The Breakdown of Truth Since Hari Kunzru’s last appearance at the Book Festival in 2017, the world has witnessed a dramatic quickening of social division in the United States, fuelled in part by internet conspiracies and communities. Kunzru makes his long-awaited return to… Hilary Mantel: Inside the Head of Thomas Cromwell More than a decade in the making, Hilary Mantel’s masterpiece is now complete with the publication of the final part of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, The Mirror and The Light. As any student of 16th century England knows, Cromwell’s life ended abruptly… Jura Unbound: Illicit Ink & Graphic Scotland (2013 event) Graphic Scotland and Illicit Ink joined forces to combine stories from the page with illustrators on the stage in this lively, late night Jura Unbound event…… Adrian Tchaikovsky: Future Tense (with Aliens) Arthur C Clarke Award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky is a sci-fi legend, celebrated for his epic world-building. He talks to Ann Landmann, exploring what imagining distant futures can teach us about our earthly world. Have sci-fi writers been ahead of the… Irvine Welsh (2016 Event) With The Blade Artist, Irvine Welsh returns to the vicious Trainspotting character who's emerged as the best reflection of our angry times. Robert Carlyle, who memorably played Begbie in the iconic movie, claims that 'small psychos are the best', and his… Michael Frayn (2015 Event) With Matchbox Theatre, Michael Frayn has produced perhaps his most daringly unusual book to date. Blurring the boundary between the page and stage, the brilliant author and playwright has produced a book of thirty short entertainments that function both… Val McDermid with Nicola Sturgeon (2015 Event) The Diamond Dagger-winning Fifer has built a vast fanbase over the years thanks to her number one bestselling novels that have sold over 11 million copies. One of Val McDermid’s better known readers is Scotland’s First Minister and here watch… Salman Rushdie 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 the influences on his… The Front List: Alan Cumming & Forbes Masson in conversation with Jackie Kay One of Scotland’s most beloved comedy double acts of all time, Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson, are delving back into their comedy past, to present ‘Victor and Barry’s Kelvinside Compendium’, a riotous romp through their formative years treading the boards… R F Kuang & Samantha Shannon: The Future of Fantasy Two of fantasy fiction’s finest young talents converge in Edinburgh, talking about the ways they both love and hope to expand the limits of the genre. R F Kuang author of Yellowface and The Poppy War trilogy talks about Babel, and Samantha Shannon, author…