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Tracy Borman: The Royal Lie That Started a War

Friday 22 August 17:45 - 18:45

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Succession meets the 17th century English monarchy in historian and novelist Tracy Borman’s revealing new book The Stolen Crown, which puts forward that Queen Elizabeth I didn’t, in fact, name King James VI of Scotland as her deathbed successor…

Something Gorey

Friday 22 August 18:15 - 19:15

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From Maurice Sendak to Edward Scissorhands, Edward Gorey’s surreal and gothic fingers are all over a particular corner of 20th century art…

Xiaolu Guo: A Whale of a Retelling

Friday 22 August 18:30 - 19:30

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Writer, artist, and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo is critically acclaimed in every medium she touches. Her novel Call Me Ishmaelle is a bold, playful, gender-swapping retelling of Moby Dick that reinvigorates Melville’s classic…

Kirsty Logan: Love Over Time

Friday 22 August 18:45 - 19:45

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Festival favourite Kirsty Logan is back with another beautiful collection of short stories, No & Other Love Stories, exploring the intricacies and complexities of female desire against a backdrop that spans centuries…

Irvine Welsh: The Second Summer of Love

Friday 22 August 18:45 - 19:45

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With its long-anticipated Trainspotting sequel, Men in Love, the gang ‘come up’ again during the anarchic, decadent peak of late 80s/early 90s rave culture. Edinburgh icon Welsh joins us to pose the timely question: is love really the drug all men crave?…

Kit de Waal: When You’re Busy Making Other Plans

Friday 22 August 19:30 - 20:30

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Fw people understand the vagueries of the human heart such as My Name Is Leon author Kit de Waal, who returns to the Festival to discuss her latest novel, The Best of Everything…

Catherine Chidgey & Laila Lalami: Dreaming Dangerously

Friday 22 August 20:00 - 21:00

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Master storytellers Catherine Chidgey and Laila Lalami have created two chilling new dystopian tales in which dreams are monitored for control and surveillance. The authors chat privacy, freedom, and speculative visions…

Chris Chibnall: From Broadchurch to the White Hart

Friday 22 August 20:30 - 21:30

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What do you do when you hand over the reins as showrunner of Doctor Who, one of the most high-profile jobs in British TV? In Chris Chibnall’s case, you write your debut crime thriller, Death at The White Hart…

After Word with Callum Easter

Friday 22 August 21:00 - 22:30

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Celebrate the final weekend of the festival and the release of Irvine Welsh’s new novel Men in Love with Leith’s own Callum Easter as he brings his soul-punk charisma to the Spiegeltent stage in this special performance, accompanied by his band the…