Dominic Streatfeild @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

HOW WE LET 9/11 CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY

‘I don't care what the international lawyers say. We are going to kick some ass.’ George Bush’s fighting talk in September 2001 led to armed intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today, the continuing reports of car bombs, IEDs and ambushes suggest they were among the worst foreign policy decisions of modern times. In his unflinching analysis of Western policies since 9/11, Streatfeild claims that al-Qaeda never threatened our existence, ‘but our reaction to it might’. Chaired by Declan Walsh.

Event details:

Saturday 27^th August

12.30pm-1.30pm

Peppers Theatre

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Praise for A History of the World Since 9/11: 

‘Anger crackles from every page of this book.’ Daily Telegraph

‘This book should have you ready to run a marathon by the time you reach the last page.’ The List

Cate Kennedy @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

EMOTIONAL TIES THAT BIND

With Gail Jones

Cate Kennedy’s The World Beneath brings two former lovers together around one individual – their teenage daughter. Featuring two of Australia’s most exciting young authors, this event underlines the energy and sophistication of contemporary fiction from down under.

Event details:

Friday 19^th August 

8.30pm-9.30pm

RBS Corner Theatre

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Praise for The World Beneath:

‘Rendered with appealing delicacy, nuance and affection’ The Observer

‘A very effective blend of social comedy and lyrically precise naturalism’ Financial Times

Kristin Hersh @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

THROWING MUSES LEAD SINGER ON SURVIVING MENTAL ILLNESS

She was at the centre of the American indie music scene throughout the 80s and 90s, releasing several acclaimed albums which led the way for the likes of Nirvana. Kristin Hersh has continued to pursue a successful singing career ever since, but as she explains in her memoir she has been living with bipolar disorder throughout. In this event she tells the story of a wild year when she was 18, got pregnant and had a baby, toured incessantly, and embarked on an enduring friendship with Hollywood musical star Betty Hutton.

Event details:

Wednesday 17^th August 

8.30pm-9.30pm

ScottishPower Studio Theatre

To buy tickets click here

 

‘A very lucid, mature account of insanity’ The Times

‘An unusual memoir: electric, elastic, vivid.’ Times Literary Supplement

Gavin Weightman @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

HOW ELECTRIFICATION CHANGED BRITAIN FOREVER

In Children of Light, social historian Weightman brings to life celebrated electrical pioneers, such as Thomas Edison, Rookes Crompton, and Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti who built Britain's first major power station on the Thames. Taking in the electrification of the London Underground, the vital modernising of industry during two World Wars and the role of environmentalists, Weightman shows that the electric revolution has brought us luxury – but at a price.

Event details:

Tuesday 23^rd August

11.00am-12.00pm

Peppers Theatre 

To buy tickets click here 

Praise for Children of Light:

‘Weightman... gives us the full absorbing story. Very strongly recommended.’ Reader’s Digest

David McKie @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

HOW TO CREATE LOCAL UTOPIAS

With Gregory Claeys

McKie’s Bright Particular Stars examines twenty six glorious British eccentrics who had a major impact on unlikely locations from the Cotswolds to Kilwinning.

Event details:

 Tuesday 23^rd August 

4.00pm-5.00pm

Peppers Theatre

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‘[Bright Particular Stars] is a fascinating gallery of people who deserve to be better remembered.’ Sunday Times

‘A splendid book’ Clive Aslet, Country Life

Gideon Rachman @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

POLITICS, POWER AND PROSPERITY AFTER THE GOOD TIMES

In Zero-Sum World, the chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times assesses how the major Western powers are being sorely tested by China muscling in on their patch. How the US and EU react to this new economic challenge, as well as what they do to tackle climate change, war, nuclear proliferation and division between countries where previously there had been a harmonious co-operation, will help mould all our futures.

Event details:

Friday 26^th August 

5.00pm-6.00pm

ScottishPower Studio Theatre

To buy tickets click here

Praise for Zero-Sum World:

‘Admirable’ Total Politics

‘Rachman’s article is sharp and snappy’ Guardian

Christopher Hope @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

WHEN COUNTRIES ARE TORN APART BY BELIEF

With Patrick McCabe

Christopher Hope’s novel Shooting Angels goes right to the broken heart of his home country, South Africa, as a man returns to the city after decades in hiding, to find out what happened to the woman he loved on that terrible night so long ago. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1992, Hope makes clear in his latest novel that the ‘new South Africa’ still bears many painful memories.

Event details:

Sunday 28^th August

8.30pm-9.30pm

Peppers Theatre

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A.D Miller @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

WHAT IS GOING ON IN RUSSIA?

With Andy Kurkov

A D Miller was the Economist’s Moscow correspondent for three years and Snowdrops is a riveting psychological drama that asks whether Moscow is corrupt, or whether a young English visitor is merely asking to be corrupted. Snowdrops has recently been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the CWA Gold Dagger Award, with shortlists for both awards to be announced in the coming weeks.

Event details:  

Friday 26^th August

8.30pm-9.30pm

RBS Corner Theatre

To buy tickets click here

Praise for Snowdrops:

‘Tightly written.... Miller’s complex, gripping debut novel is undoubtedly the real thing.’ John Harding, Daily Mail

‘Sophisticated and many-layered’ The Spectator

David Miller @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

TIGHT AND TAUT TALES OF INTER-WAR EUROPE

With Dan Vyleta

It’s August 1924 and John Conrad arrives at his parents’ home on the outskirts of Canterbury. But as guests converge, John's father (the rather famous Joseph) dies. Miller’s taut and understated debut Today is an investigation of bereavement, family and Englishness.

Event details:  

Wednesday 17^th August

8.30pm-9.30pm

RBS Corner Theatre

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Praise for Today:

‘Curious and compelling’ The Times

‘Compelling’ The Guardian

Joanne Limburg @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

A POSITIVE SPIN ON DEBILITATING AFFLICTION

Poet Joanne Limburg worries about global disasters, mainly because she thinks they may somehow be her fault. She also hates crossing the road, has a mortal dread of losing her shoes and began to dread sitting at her desk to write for fear that her chair would catch fire. In The Woman Who Thought Too Much, this OCD-inflicted writer faces up to her demons and transcribes a painful but ultimately hopeful tract about her troubled and anxious soul.
The Woman Who Thought Too Much has recently been shortlisted for the Mind Book of the Year Award (winner still tba).

Event details:
Wednesday 17^th August

5.00pm-6.00pm
ScottishPower Studio Theatre

To buy tickets click here. 

Praise for The Woman Who Thought Too Much:

‘A candid and often funny memoir’ Stylist Magazine

‘Her candid narrative evokes both pity and admiration’ Metro

Francisco Goldman @ Edinburgh International Book Festival

A NOVELIST’S RESPONSE TO A TRAGEDY

In 2005 the acclaimed novelist Francisco Goldman married a young Mexican writer, Aura Estrada. Less than two years later, she was dead, her neck broken while body surfing. Goldman blamed himself for Aura's death, but instead of taking his own life he confronted his grief by writing a novel, Say Her Name. A story of boundless love and unspeakable loss, it is also profoundly restorative: by recounting Aura's life, he has recreated a love affair that will never die.

Event details:  

Monday 15th August 3.30pm-4.30pm

ScottishPower Studio Theatre

To buy tickets click here.

‘[Say Her Name is] a beautiful and often unbearably sad memoir of grief and memory’ The Observer