Tuesday 19 August 12:00 - 13:00
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It's lunchtime, and (hallelujah!) there's no need to doomscroll over a sad desk salad. Be the first to discover the literary stars of the future, instead. In partnership with Scottish Book Trust and other leading talent spotters across the UK, this…
Tuesday 19 August 12:15 - 13:15
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The mutifaceted Edward Carey is a novelist, playwright, and illustrator whose creations have a Gothic sensibility, at once enchanting and unsettling. His eccentric new work, Edith Holler, tells the story of a young woman trapped in a theatre she believes…
Tuesday 19 August 12:45 - 13:45
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Prolific social historian and Edinburgh favourite, Alistair Moffat returns to discuss To See Ourselves: A Personal History of Scotland Since 1950. Through this latest work, Moffat chronicles the radical changes seen in every aspect of Scottish life over…
Tuesday 19 August 13:15 - 14:15
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Since the 90s, Javier Cercas has written regularly for Spain's leading newspaper, El Pais, bringing a novelist's depth to current affairs. Bridging past and present, Cercas' weekly column blends personal reflection with historical and moral exploration…
Tuesday 19 August 13:30 - 14:30
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- BSL interpreted
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s feverishly anticipated new novel, Dream Count, has been a decade in the making. Adichie offers an insight into her transcendent, powerful work, and how the choices we make – or which are made for us – can cast a longer shadow…
Tuesday 19 August 13:30 - 14:30
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Recipient of France's most prestigious literary award, Jean-Baptiste Andrea's Watching Over Her is one of the best selling Prix Goncourt winners in the prize's 121-year history and is now being adapted for film. This sweeping novel charts a tumultuous…
Tuesday 19 August 13:45 - 14:45
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The cello is regarded as the warmest of string instruments and for those who play it, the instrument is like a character in their lives. In Cello, Kate Kennedy illuminates that deep companionship between musician and instrument via a biography of four…
Tuesday 19 August 14:15 - 15:15
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Home may be where the heart is - but what happens when that home is invaded by your unemployed (and very grumpy) 30-year-old kid? Jenny Colgan's Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages explores the ever-evolving relationship between a mother and her adult…
Tuesday 19 August 15:00 - 16:00
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One of the most successful French writers of his generation (winning the Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman for his debut, HHhH), Laurent Binet is also an academic, and a musician. His latest work, Perspectives, is a bold, thrilling whodunit that’s also an……
Tuesday 19 August 15:00 - 16:00
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Daring international art promoter James Birch has played a pivotal role in the careers of artists as varied as Grayson Perry, Francis Bacon, and the eccentric duo Gilbert & George. Today, he joins us to discus his lively new book, Gilbert & George and…
Tuesday 19 August 15:30 - 16:30
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The benefits of culture to health, education and community are championed, but can culture ever do wrong? First published in 2020, academics and creative industry experts Orian Brook, Dave O'Brien and Mark Taylor's Culture is Bad for You breaks down the…
Tuesday 19 August 15:45 - 16:45
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Now in its centenary year, the National Library of Scotland is a treasure trove of Scotland's literary past - but did you know it also cares for the archives of our nation's contemporary writers? Today, we explore the idea of a 'living archive' with…
Tuesday 19 August 16:00 - 17:00
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In Electric Spark, Frances Wilson digs into Muriel Spark's young life, uncovering untold experiences and strange encounters that ultimately shaped Spark as a person and writer. Meanwhile, in Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife, Francesca Wade shares unseen…
Suitable for age 3 - 5
Tuesday 19 August 16:45 - 17:45
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The circus is sold out, the big top is packed, the ringmaster is about to introduce the first act but… oh no! Tweedy the Clown has lost something very important! Get your clown shoes on and join Tweedy today…
Tuesday 19 August 17:00 - 18:00
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One of Ukraine's most celebrated post-Soviet novelists, and former president of PEN Ukraine, Kurkov writes with incredible passion and insight on the invasion of his home country. Today, hear Kurkov unpacking his vivid and defiant memoir, Our Daily War…
Tuesday 19 August 17:30 - 18:30
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Headbangers and shredders, deeply unpopular coppers, grotty hotels in the armpit of Perthshire, scammers and eejits - these are the very Scottish, very noir-ish backdrops to two vivid crime novels: Paperboy by Mcllvanney Prizewinner Callum Mcsorley and…
Tuesday 19 August 17:45 - 18:45
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The climate crisis isn't just about the environment; it's about the way global inequality means the world's most vulnerable people are being hit first and hardest. So argues physicist and climate researcher Friederike Otto, whose Climate Injustice looks…
Tuesday 19 August 18:00 - 19:00
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Last year, Caitlin O’Ryan’s poem about walking home alone, ‘At What Point’, went viral – her poems have since been shared by the likes of Jameela Jamil, Natasha Bedingfield, and Sarah Cox. Now, her new collection of the same title arrives onto the poetry…
Tuesday 19 August 18:30 - 19:30
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With a five-decade-long writing career and Korea's most prestigious literary prizes under his belt, Hwang Sok-yong is unmatched in depicting the social and political realities of his ruptured homeland. It's a rare honour to welcome him to the Festival…
Tuesday 19 August 18:45 - 19:45
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'That it is a masterpiece is without question' is how the Observer described Question 7: Richard Flanagan's 12th book, winner of 2024's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Today the multitalented author shares with Chris Power how he brought together…
Full 2025 Book Festival programme is announced with key theme of Repair 
