Alexander McCall Smith

Jussi Adler-Olsen (2015 Event) Bestselling Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen arrived in Charlotte Square Gardens for his first appearance in Edinburgh, delighting fans and newcomers to his work. The creator of the Department Q novels has sold over 10 million copies of his books worldwide… George RR Martin (2014 event) Game of Thrones author George R R martin describes how he feels about the screen incarnations of his books… 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… Richard Ford with Kirsty Wark (2017 Event) Richard Ford is one of America’s greatest writers, capturing the changing face of the USA since the late 70s. He writes of the human condition with wit, passion and an uncanny observational eye. His beloved country has gone through seismic shifts in the… Kate Tempest with Don Paterson (2015 Event) Still in her twenties, the ferociously-talented Kate Tempest has been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, won the Ted Hughes Prize for innovation in poetry and secured a novel contract with Bloomsbury… Robin Robertson (2018 Event) A renowned poet whose work often hauntingly evokes the lives of Scottish outsiders, and a mesmerising reader of his own work, Robin Robertson strikes out with a breathtaking new project, The Long Take. In this verse novel, Walker is a war veteran from… Michael Scheuer (2011 event) The death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 marked a key moment in the history of the so-called War on Terror. But Michael Scheuer, formerly the chief of the CIA unit responsible for capturing the elusive Saudi, believes bin Laden’s death will make no… Sebastian Barry After being awarded the coveted Costa Book of the Year Award earlier in the year for his incredibly moving novel The Secret Scripture, Irish writer Sebastian Barry went on to receive the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction too, which was announced in a… Tom McCarthy (2010 event) In 2010, major new literary voice Tom McCarthy joined us in Edinburgh to launch his new book, C, in which McCarthy’s hero embarked on a strange, Pynchonesque journey across the 20th century, from a Bohemian spa and the First World War, to a climax in an… Jonathan Dimbleby Outstanding journalist and presenter Jonathan Dimbleby travelled thousands of miles to get to the heart of modern Russia. In this absorbing and often moving event from 2008, he gives unique insight into a vast land in transition…