John O'Donoghue

Outriders: Mariana Enriquez & Kevin MacNeil (2017 event) As part of our project to explore the Americas, Scottish novelist Kevin MacNeil travelled around Argentina with journalist, novelist and short story writer Mariana Enriquez. Starting in Buenos Aires, the writers set off in search of lost voices, both… Ian McEwan Unedited audio recording of the 2007 event in which Ian McEwan chats with chair Ian Rankin about his early work, influences and most recent publication, On Chesil Beach. Great fun!… Fatima Bhutto at the Edinburgh International Book Festival In this event recorded live at the 2019 Edinburgh International Book Festival, we are thrilled to welcome back Fatima Bhutto to discuss her second novel The Runaways. Published against the backdrop of the Shamima Begum controversy, Bhutto’s novel could… Museums and Libraries (2015 Event) Museums and galleries dominate as destinations, attracting record numbers of visitors to blockbuster shows. Meanwhile libraries are facing a funding crisis and are increasingly asked to justify their existence. What can libraries learn from museums, and… Xiaolu Guo Xiaolu Guo has won international praise for her work as both writer and filmmaker. In this 2008 event she discusses her latest novel 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth, which draws on her experiences as a filmmaker in Beijing… Anita Nair - with William Dalrymple 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… Kirstin Innes (2015 Event) Winner of the Guardian’s Not the Booker prize, Kirstin Innes’ bittersweet debut, Fishnet takes us deep into the world of sex workers, tracing one woman’s obsessive quest for answers following her sister’s mysterious disappearance… Iain Mcwhirter (2014 event) His book Road to Referendum is a clear-minded history of Scotland’s journey towards its historic vote in September, and Iain Macwhirter argues that after the poll, constitutional change is inevitable. If so, where will the negotiations between… Paul Merton (2015 Event) Not Always Clowning Around. One of the most intelligent and likeable comics in the land, Paul Merton has had his fair share of darkness and tragedy…