Alexander Masters (2016 Event) In 2001, almost 150 tattered notebooks were discovered in a skip in Cambridge. They were a small part of an intimate diary that began in 1952 and ended half a century later. It took Alexander Masters five years to uncover the identity and real history of … John Byrne (2011 event) Painter and set designer, playwright and novelist, John Byrne is one of Scotland’s great polymaths. Best known for his plays the Slab Boys Trilogy and Tutti Frutti, Byrne has also designed record sleeves for Donovan and The Beatles… William Fotheringham (2014 event) Long before Bradley Wiggins took the world by storm, British cycling already had a hero. Tom Simpson was world champion and the first Briton to wear yellow in the Tour de France. In 1967 he died during a stage of the Tour while climbing the monstrous Mont… Helen Macdonald (2014 Event) In her powerful, emotive memoir, H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald recounts her obsessive pursuit to become a falconer. Following the shock of her father’s death and inspired by T H White’s The Goshawk, she embarked on a journey to train her own … James Kelman James Kelman is the single most influential Scottish novelist of modern times and Scotland's only Booker Prize winner. Listen to him discuss his groundbreaking early work in 2007, the year of its reissue… Joseph Stiglitz (2010 event) A 2010 Book Festival event that will be talked about for some time to come. Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, delivered a thought-provoking event with the words of a real insider. As chair Ruth Wishart said, "Joseph Stiglitz has analysed mor… Abdel Bari Atwan Good natured chat from newspaper editor Abdel Bari Atwan as he recounts his journey from Palestinian refugee camps to the front page. One of the world's leading authorities on the Middle East, Atwan shares some of his extraordinary encounters, includi… Alan Warner reading Sullivan's Ashes Man Booker longlister and Morvern Callar author reading his new story on the theme of Elsewhere… Shami Chakrabarti with Kate Mosse (2015 Event) A day after Shami Chakrabarti joined the campaigning organisation Liberty, New York’s Twin Towers were attacked. Ever since, she has fought a passionate campaign for human rights… 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…