David Vann reading Bain de Soleil Young award-winning US author David Vann reads his story on the theme of Elsewhere… Harry Baker (2017 Event) Meet the man who is a World Poetry Slam Champion turned full-time poet via a maths degree. Following on from his debut collection, The Sunshine Kid, Harry Baker brings a selection of old favourites and brand new poems to this event recorded live at the 20… The Literacy Revolution (2015 Event) According to UNESCO, every region of the world during the last 20 years has seen gains in literacy rates, but the situation remains highly uneven. To what extent can this improvement be attributed to the urbanisation of populations across the world and th… The Voices in Our Heads: Creating Characters in Fiction (2014 event) The first sign that a book works is when the characters talk back to their author, and books can represent our internal voices unlike any other art form. A panel of award-winning novelists, Nathan Filer, Edward Carey and Matthew Quick talk about their rel… Michèle Roberts & Helen Simpson (2010 event) Two remarkable writers led an exceptional Book Festival event in 2010. Joined by chair Steven Gale, Michèle Roberts and Helen Simpson discussed their sharp and moving short story collections to great effect… Neil Forsyth (2011 Event) The BBC Radio adaptation of Forsyth's Delete This at Your Peril catapulted the fictional Dundonian anti-hero Bob Servant to national attention. Servant's habit of responding to junk emails and striking up a relationship with… Roger Robinson: ‘Ordinary Poems Won’t Change the World (2020 Event) Firmly rooted in the dub poetry tradition of his Trinidadian heritage, Robinson’s plain-speaking, fizzy, often joyous verse journeys through our contemporary preoccupations with a seasoned insight few could replicate. From the ongoing injustices of Gren… Andrew O'Hagan A magnificently intelligent essayist, novelist, critic, and a mesmerising speaker. Andrew O'Hagan talks to Magnus Linklater in this 2008 event about politics, Scotland and his recent collection of reportage on a declining Britain and a rising America, The… Mark Billingham with Val McDermid (2016 Event) With over three million copies of his books sold to date, Mark Billingham’s career as a novelist has been a slam-dunk success. And he’s back for more with Die of Shame, his smartest, most unusual thriller to date. When six people meet each week to dis… Helen & Morna Mulgray Lively chat with the Edinburgh-based crime writing twins after their 2009 Book Festival event. They discuss their joint writing technique, outline the plot to their latest novel (which centres on a cat named Gorgonzola) and ask listeners to cast a decidin…