Transatlantic Encounters

Transatlantic Encounters

Transatlantic Encounters at the Edinburgh International Book Festival will feature a stellar line up of American and US-based authors – highlighting the diversity of thought and creativity of the United States. Reflecting on a range of literary work, each author will offer a unique and free-thinking perspective on what it means to be a citizen in the United States, how their work reflects their lived experience of America, and their relationship to the rest of the world.

Supported by U.S. Embassy London.

 

Claudia Rankine: 'Words Are Out of Order'

Saturday 12 August 20:30 - 21:30

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  • BSL interpreted
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We are delighted to welcome Claudia Rankine, author of the ground-breaking American Lyric trilogy, to discuss the Penguin Modern Classics reissue of her daring 2001 masterpiece, Plot. A standout work in Rankine’s stellar career, Plot is an engrossing...
 

Christopher Miller: Ukraine - Fighting For Its Life

Sunday 13 August 10:45 - 11:45

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The Financial Times' Ukraine correspondent, Christopher Miller, has been embedded in the country for 13 years: he was reporting from the front line in Crimea, and reported from a bombed-out Mariupol. Miller is a leading voice on the conflict, and The...
 

Dionne Brand & Claudia Rankine: Poetry and Power 

Sunday 13 August 13:30 - 14:30

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A rare opportunity to witness two of the most lauded and celebrated North American poets of recent years in conversation. With careers spanning several decades, Dionne Brand and Claudia Rankine discuss their writing to date, and how they have used the...
 

Colson Whitehead: Harlem Through a Kaleidoscope

Tuesday 15 August 20:30 - 21:30

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  • BSL interpreted
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Double Pulitzer prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead is one of the most admired US writers of this century. He’s back in Edinburgh with the second in a series of crime novels set in New York in the 1960s...
 

Eileen Myles: 'They' Contain Multitudes

Friday 18 August 20:30 - 21:30

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Prolific poet and activist Eileen Myles is back with a “Working Life”, a new collection which captures the many dualities of human life: loneliness and companionship, travel and stasis, fear and wonder. Join us to hear Myles discuss the immense...
 

Close Read with Eileen Myles

Saturday 19 August 12:45 - 14:15

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Eileen Myles is a poet, performer, and activist whose work spans poetry, short stories, creative non-fiction, performance pieces, and even a run for president. Their writing often crosses from the universe at large to more intimate concerns, interested...
 

Brandon Taylor: American Intimacy 

Sunday 20 August 15:30 - 16:30

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In the eagerly awaited follow-up to the Booker Prize-shortlisted Real Life, Brandon Taylor’s new novel The Late Americans follows a social circle of friends and students in Iowa City, as they grapple with their ambitions and desires while running...
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Difficult to define and diverse by its nature, the essay is a slippery form. It requires – according to Brian Dillon – some 'combination of exactitude and evasion'. Join Dillon, author of a new collection of interlinked essays, Affinities, alongside...
 

Xiaolu Guo & Valzhyna Mort: I Have a New Language Now

Friday 25 August 12:00 - 13:00

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Xiaolu Guo’s memoir Radical is an account of her efforts to carve out a life in Britain having moved from China. Meanwhile Valzhyna Mort moved to the US from Belarus and wrote her poetry collection Music for the Dead and Resurrected in Belarusian and...