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 past 18 months with many questioning what's next. In this event filmed live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival, he talks to BBC Newsnight's Kirsty Wark to explore the reality of the American Dream today.

Book Festival News

Full 2025 Book Festival programme is announced with key theme of Repair Full 2025 Book Festival programme is announced with key theme of Repair
Tuesday 10 June

Enjoying this event? You can help us produce more like it.

Donate

Share

Watch more

Jackie Kay with Nicola Sturgeon (2016 Event) Jackie Kay with Nicola Sturgeon (2016 Event) Scotland's Makar, Jackie Kay, has a proud history of writing poetry about believable characters; ordinary people like herself. Her poems are genuine, open and often deeply personal. Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has long been an admirer of… Liz Lochhead: New and Collected Poems Liz Lochhead: New and Collected Poems Motherwell-born writer Liz Lochhead presents works spanning a lifetime from her recently published New and Collected Poems. It’s just over 50 years since the publication of her first collection, Memo for Spring, and since then Lochhead has published… Interview - Billy Collins (2014) Interview - Billy Collins (2014) He’s twice been poet laureate in the US and says he hopes his poems ‘begin in Kansas and end in Oz’. Now Billy Collins returns with Aimless Love, his first collection of new and selected poems for 12 years. Elegant, poignant and… Interview - Helle Helle (2015) Interview - Helle Helle (2015) We were delighted to meet the wonderful Danish writer Helle Helle before her Book Festival event in Charlotte Square Gardens to talk about her first novel to be translated into English, This Should Be Written in the Present Tense. We asked some… Julia Donaldson and Peter May (2015 Event) Julia Donaldson and Peter May (2015 Event) With the domination of the English language in publishing, we can often overlook what happens beyond our borders. How does a writer's work travel to other nations? How do authors keep ownership of their translations? Watch two of our finest literary… Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins A brilliant evolutionist, polemical in his attack upon religion as an explanation of our world, Richard Dawkins was one of our fastest-selling events of 2008. In conversation with Paula Kirby, atheist and former Christian, he tackles life on Earth and the… Edward Wong: China Under the Lens Edward Wong: China Under the Lens Diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times, Edward Wong covers foreign policy from Washington. Wong’s new account of the last century of change, The Edge of Empire, gives profound insight into a new authoritarian age transforming the world. Join him… Roisin Kiberd & Lauren Oyler: Online and Disconnected Roisin Kiberd & Lauren Oyler: Online and Disconnected The generation who were ‘raised by the internet’ are fully-fledged adults now, but the web has become a strange parent: a cold, detached being that knows everything about us. Our relationship with the internet is probably one which psychoanalysts will be… Jennifer Robinson & Keina Yoshida: Beyond Reasonable Doubt Jennifer Robinson & Keina Yoshida: Beyond Reasonable Doubt How Many More Women? exposes a rising threat to survivors of gender-based violence who want to speak out against abuse: the legal teams of powerful men who suppress allegations and prevent newspapers from running stories. Join renowned human rights… Benjamin Labatut & Adrian Nathan West with Jay G Ying Benjamin Labatut & Adrian Nathan West with Jay G Ying Anyone who studied physics at school might remember the mysterious way in which light is said to hover somewhere between wave and particle. In a similar way, according to Philip Pullman, the thrilling new work by Benjamin Labatut hovers somewhere between…