Kate Summerscale

Hadley Freeman (2016 Event) For many, the 80s was a decade that taste didn’t just forget, but totally bypassed. Guardian and Vogue columnist Hadley Freeman does not subscribe to that one bit and is so passionate about 80s American movies that she’s written a book about them. Life… Gill Arbuthnott reading Marilyn's Hands Listen to the author of the gripping Germ Wars and The Keepers Daughter and many other novels and fact-filled books based around science, as she reads her contribution to… 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… Henrietta Bowden-Jones, Erin Saltman & Åsne Seierstad with Lennie Goodings (2015 Event) What draws women to the extremes of war? Åsne Seierstad, acclaimed author of The Bookseller of Kabul and a seasoned war reporter, talks about being on the frontline; Erin Saltman, Senior Counter Extremism Researcher from the Institute for Strategic… Fatima Bhutto & Fay Weldon (2010 event) The celebrated Fay Weldon and the superb Fatima Bhutto captivated Book Festival audiences in this 2010 event chaired by Ruth Padel. Despite their widely different backgrounds, both Fay Weldon and Fatima Bhutto share the way in which a parent’s loss… Edna O'Brien with Andrew O'Hagan (2011 event) 'I'm very grateful for Ireland,' said Edna O'Brien in a recent interview. 'It stirs things up in me.' O'Brien came to Edinburgh to discuss her latest book, Saints and Sinners, which includes several stories set in her beloved home country… Niall Ferguson (2011 Event) Are we living through the dying embers of Western ascendancy? For Scottish historian and broadcaster Niall Ferguson, the ‘killer applications’ test is the best way to measure our status with the rest of the world… Irvine Welsh The man who delved into the dark reality of contemporary Edinburgh was the first of the 2009 Book Festival's late evening events. Irvine Welsh here talks about his new collection Reheated Cabbage, which brings together an eclectic mix of stories capturing… 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… The Principle of Religion (2014 event) Richard Holloway, Rowan Williams, Rchard Sennett and Angela Zito explore the key ideas that have shaped humanity. In this event: the ideas and impact of religious belief…