Saturday 23 August 10:15 - 11:15
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Christopher de Bellaigue joins us today discussing the life of the feared 16th century Sultan, Suleyman the Magnificent, and his relevance to today’s Middle East…
Suitable for age 9 - 11
Saturday 23 August 10:30 - 11:30
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Dust off your trench coat and look out your magnifying glass! Whether you are part of the Detective Society, a Ministry member or just want to join the party, hear from brilliant author, Robin Stevens as she shares her new book, The Most Unladylike…
Suitable for age 6 - 9
Saturday 23 August 11:45 - 12:45
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Meet the only doctor in the world who must be in bed by 8pm. From former doctor and author Adam Kay comes a new side-splitting series about the world’s youngest doctor, Dexter Proctor: The 10-Year-Old Doctor, brilliantly illustrated by Henry Paker……
Saturday 23 August 12:00 - 13:00
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Author, journalist, and host of both BBC Radio 4’s The Long View series and the Guardian’s Politics Weekly America podcast, Jonathan Freedland has won both the Orwell Prize for Journalism and the Somerset Maugham Award for Non-Fiction…
Saturday 23 August 12:15 - 13:15
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Taking time away from his prolific band Belle and Sebastian, singer Stuart Murdoch has penned a stunning debut novel which fictionalises his own experience with ME (a chronic fatigue illness)…
Saturday 23 August 13:30 - 14:30
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Since Butter appeared in print, bookshops have been scrambling to keep Asako Suzuki’s word-of-mouth sensation in stock. Yuzuki talks today about consumption, sexism, skewed beauty standards, and her mission to elevate the status of Japan’s women through…
Suitable for age 9 - 11
Saturday 23 August 13:30 - 14:30
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A Beginner’s Guide to the Best Bits of the Bard, and explore love, heartbreak, magic, superstition, and more (with the help of some special guests). Expect jokes, classic insults, and drawings of epic proportions!…
Saturday 23 August 13:30 - 14:30
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Why does a chipped old mug or plate passed on to us by a loved one hold such special appeal? Join Bee Wilson for a heartwarming and inspiring conversation today, central to our Repair theme…
Suitable for age 6 - 9
Saturday 23 August 14:15 - 15:15
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Join the colourful, fun world of award-winning author-illustrator Sophy Henn as she shares Happy Hills: Mr Big Fluff Rules…
Saturday 23 August 14:45 - 15:45
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It’s been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Yet there are writers who manage to capture something of the feeling of listening, the way it moves and shapes us…
Saturday 23 August 15:00 - 16:00
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Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for his first novel, Black Flamingo, Dean Atta is back at this year’s Festival with his new coming-of-age tale, I Can’t Even Think Straight. Join us today as we chat to Dean about navigating the world…
Saturday 23 August 15:15 - 16:15
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Bestselling author of Maggie and Me and host of the Big Scottish Book Club, the ebullient Damien Barr takes us back in time to 1930s Scotland with his intoxicating new novel…
Saturday 23 August 15:15 - 16:15
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In Candice Chung and Katie Goh’s memoirs, food is a love language, a commodity, and a way of saying the unsayable…
Saturday 23 August 16:00 - 17:00
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Join Ekow Eshun and Imaobong Umoren for this timely, fascinating discussion about the continuing hold of colonialism on contemporary life…
Saturday 23 August 16:45 - 17:45
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Described as a prose poem, a nature diary, and a poetic inquiry, this too is a glistening is the creation of four brilliant poets and writers…
Saturday 23 August 17:00 - 18:00
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- BSL interpreted
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Women’s healthcare is in need of a revolution, and BBC broadcaster Naga Munchetty is ready to fight. She talks with Devi Sridhar about the fundamental flaws in our healthcare system…
Saturday 23 August 17:00 - 18:00
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Obsession. Desire. Rage. Emotions women are expected to swallow and hide from the world. But rather than disappearing, they instead bubble away under the surface…
Saturday 23 August 17:45 - 18:45
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In the concise and pointed The World After Gaza, Pankaj Mishra uses the war in the Middle East as a starting point to examine the competing histories of the last century and how they’ve shaped differing political and moral imaginations…
Saturday 23 August 18:30 - 19:30
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This event brings two authors of heartfelt, electric works about coming of age when you have so much stacked against you…
Saturday 23 August 18:45 - 19:45
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The author of international phenomenon, Women Talking, joins us to discuss making a pact with traumatic memory and filling silences we wish weren’t there…
Full 2025 Book Festival programme is announced with key theme of Repair 
