How We Kept The Conversation Going in 2020

Nana Oforiatta Ayim & Barnaby Phillips: Returning the Loot 124 years ago, the British government sent 1,200 soldiers and sailors to invade the Kingdom of Benin in West Africa. This was just one of many so-called 'Punitive Expeditions' launched across the continent by the British Empire. Benin’s soldiers, armed… Kerry Andrew & Kerri ní Dochartaigh: Blood and Water Where does daily experience in Ireland meet something less tangible, something more speculative? Kerry Andrew’s tender novel Skin is irrigated by the mystery and lure of water. ‘When you got closer – tarn, pool, river, proper swimming lake – the… Nick Drnaso: Drawing Inspiration If graphic novels have historically been overlooked by the literary establishment, then Nick Drnaso’s work is changing things. Sabrina was the first graphic novel to be longlisted for the Booker Prize. Now Acting Class confirms Drnaso as one of today’s… Caroline Criado Perez talks to Sally Magnusson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival In conversation with Sally Magnusson, award-winning feminist campaigner and writer Caroline Criado Perez exposes the hidden systematic discrimination women face every day. Her book Invisible Women is her clarion call for change, bringing together new… Maryse Condé & Richard Philcox: Giving Voice to Guadeloupe At 83, Maryse Condé is one of the most significant voices of our time. The Guadeloupean novelist, critic and playwright has had a career festooned with honours and awards for her work, including the New Academy Prize in Literature, the substitute for the 2… Karl Ove Knausgaard: The Familiar Made Strange My Struggle was the six-volume autofictional project that established Karl Ove Knausgaard among the world’s most respected writers. Now, the Norwegian author embarks on a new literary odyssey. The Morning Star is a novel steeped in the uncanny, haunted by… Alasdair Gray (2010 event) With the help of three actors, Lanark author Alasdair Gray presents an irreverent dramatised reading… Stories and Scran Returning for its third year, Stories and Scran celebrates the dynamic and thought-provoking work created by participants in Citizen, our long-term creative programme offering local people a platform to explore identity and place. Enjoy a snack and a… Craig Brown: The Slippery Art of Biography In One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time, Craig Brown gathered a kaleidoscopic mix of letters, news reports, diaries and much more besides into a brilliantly quirky not-quite-biography of the most successful pop group ever. It won him the prestigious… Tim Winton talks to John Williams at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Only dreamers or the desperate would cross the vast saltland deserts of Western Australia. So which is Jaxie Clacton, the lonely boy at the heart of Tim Winton’s brutal, tender novel The Shepherd’s Hut? It’s a masterful work by one of the world’s greatest…