Friday 22 August 13:30 - 14:30
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Acclaimed author and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo joins International Booker Prize-shortlisted Gabriela Cabezón Cámara for an entrancing event exploring gender-blending historical narratives…
Suitable for age 6 - 9
Friday 22 August 14:15 - 15:15
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Did you know there is a whole world right beneath our feet? Down in the ground below, there are worms and scorpions, beetles and caterpillars. Musician Gecko joins Simon Mole for this bug-tastic event as they celebrate the fantastic world of bugs…
Friday 22 August 14:45 - 15:45
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While she is renowned as a novelist, Diana Evans has also spent more than 25 years as a journalist. Join the Women’s Prize-shortlisted author for a special conversation with Sam Baker, as they celebrate the art of the interview…
Friday 22 August 15:00 - 16:00
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Masculinity and vulnerability are examined through the twin lenses of poetry and fiction. This will be a fascinating conversation on the search for identity and connection…
Friday 22 August 15:15 - 16:15
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Catherine Chidgey, the twice Women’s Prize-longlisted author of Pet, talks with us about her thrillingly unnerving dystopian vision, her magpie mind, and living in a world where some lives are valued less than others…
Friday 22 August 15:15 - 16:15
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As Israel correspondent for the Economist and formerly of Ha’aretz, few writers are better placed than Pfeffer to offer a critical understanding of the political psyche of Israel and the on-the-ground situation for Israelis and Palestinians at this…
Friday 22 August 16:00 - 17:00
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Historian and archaeologist Josephine Quinn is an expert in ancient history, from Greece and Rome to Phoenicia. Today, she shares lessons from her new book, How the World Made the West…
Friday 22 August 16:30 - 17:30
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Responsible for the sound on the night Bob Dylan went electric, and producer of Nick Drake, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and R.E.M, few know the 20th century’s most popular music better than the legendary Joe Boyd – or are more familiar with the global……
Friday 22 August 16:45 - 17:45
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Discover two bold new voices from Spain, recently published in English for the first time. Writing in the tradition of the Spanish literary greats, Elisa Levi and Sara Mesa’s fiction blend themes of belonging, coming of age, power dynamics, and rural…
Friday 22 August 17:00 - 18:00
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An exploration of humanity at its most uncharted frontier. Today, we talk to Chris McQueer, Catherine Prasifka, and Elaine Castillo, who have each written compelling novels set in the parallel country of the internet…
Friday 22 August 17:00 - 18:00
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- BSL interpreted
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Sometimes it feels like we can’t talk about anything without further polarising opinions. Join author and philosopher A C Grayling as he seeks the middle-ground in an incendiary debate…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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?…
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…
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…
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…
Suitable for age 9 - 11
Saturday 23 August 10:00 - 11:00
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Discover how you can become a hero in any accident or emergency with Dr Punam Krishan, author and resident GP on BBC Morning Live. Dr Krishan will use lessons from her latest book, The Superhero’s First Aid Manual, to teach you how to stay calm and help…
Full 2025 Book Festival programme is announced with key theme of Repair 
