Interview - Melissa Benn (2014)

Raynor Winn: A Walk on the Wild Side In The Salt Path, Raynor Winn told the story of a healing walk on the South West Coast Path with her unwell husband, Moth. Winn’s third book, Landlines, recounts Raynor and Moth’s most ambitious walk yet – an epic 1,000-mile journey starting with the Cape… Katherine May: A Natural Harbour Many of us find ourselves in the shadow of the events of the last few years, feeling a little unmoored and wondering: does anybody else feel like this? Overwhelmed and burnt out, Katherine May opens her door and journeys into the natural world in search… A L Kennedy: We Are Not Dead Yet A L Kennedy’s insightful and piercing gaze, evident in all her books, is probably at its most unflinching in her short stories. We are thrilled to welcome her back to the Book Festival with her short story collection We Are Attempting to Survive Our Time… The New York Times Book Review Live There is an intimacy to reading: it’s just us and the author; our subjective response and their generous, imaginative understanding of a world that we share but may struggle to articulate. Yet for book lovers, there are moments beyond that connection… Flora Fraser: On Flora Macdonald Historical biographer Flora Fraser has illuminated the hidden lives of queens and mistresses through revolutions and scandals. Now with Pretty Young Rebel, Fraser turns her sights to Flora Macdonald, who disguised Bonnie Prince Charlie as a maid and… Interview - Julia Donaldson and Peter May We caught up with brilliant and best known writers Julia Donaldson and Peter May to talk writing and translation, which was the subject of their joint event in Charlotte Square Gardens. We also asked some audience members what they thought about the event… R-Words: Infectious Poetry for Everyone  As we navigate the pandemic we have all learned more medical terminology and nothing has been more important than the ‘R number’, explaining the rate of infection. Yet for writer and theatre director Ross Mackay, the R number is the inspiration behind his… Marian Keyes: Disaster Averted The bestselling author arrives at the Festival with a hilarious, heart-warming new novel. In My Favourite Mistake, Anna trades in her high-flying life in New York to help her friends open a wellness retreat in a tiny Irish town. When the locals protest… Meg Mason: Femme Fatalistic Meg Mason’s breakout bestselling novel of love, family and mental health, Sorrow and Bliss, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and dubbed ‘the book you have to read this summer’ by the Evening Standard. Comparisons have arisen to BBC’s… Stuart Kelly: Walter Scott, Writer of the Future? Walter Scott had more impact than any other author on this country. Quite simply, he reimagined Scotland. Previously conceptualised by the likes of Samuel Johnson as ‘primitive’, with a landscape that was ‘horrid’, by the time Scott was done Scotland was ‘…