James Kelman

Edwyn Collins & Grace Maxwell with Ian Rankin (2015 Event) ‘Moving beyond words’ was one critic’s response to The Possibilities Are Endless, a documentary charting Edwyn Collins’ return to relative good health after two massive strokes in 2005. That film, and a recent book, were the… Christos Tsiolkas (2010 event) Christos Tsiolkas flew all the way to Edinburgh from his home in Australia to open the 2010 Edinburgh International Book Festival in fine literary style. In a sold-out event chaired by Steven Gale, he discussed his much talked-about best-selling novel The… Yanis Varoufakis with Shami Chakrabarti (2018 Event) Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has written several influential books and has co-founded ‘DiEM25’, a pan-European progressive movement which will be competing in next year’s European parliament elections. Adults in… Tracy Chevalier Talking about her new novel Remarkable Creatures, the queen of the historical novel this time tackles Mary Anning, the fossil-obsessed girl who discovered whole plesiosaurs in the Dorset cliffs. Her finds invited people to question the literal truth of… Anita Nair - with William Dalrymple Mai Al-Nakib & Tom Barbash (2014 event) Our 2014 First Book Award-winner Kuwaiti author Mai Al-Nakib comes together in this event with bestselling San Francisco writer Tom Barbash to talk about their brilliant, moving short-story collections… James Naughtie: The USA, from Reagan to Trump (2020 Event) On the Road is Naughtie’s compelling memoir of his American experiences during this period of change. In this event recorded live at the 2020 Book Festival, he discusses his adventures – and a rollercoaster half-century of USA life - with fellow BBC… Wendy Cope (2011 Event) The poetry of Kent-born Cope has charmed readers ever since her first collection, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis… Jen Hadfield Reading From My Vow Hear this talented young author read her new work From My Vow, part of our series of stories and podcasts on the theme of Elsewhere… Siri Hustvedt with Elif Shafak (2017 Event) From Dickens to Vermeer and psychoanalysis to neuroscience, Siri Hustvedt is a writer of remarkable range and insight. In this event, recorded live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival, she talks to acclaimed Turkish novelist and writer Elif…