Alan Bennett

Hallie Rubenhold: The Problem with Great Men (2020 Event) Of the five women who died in the Autumn of 1888 at the hands of Jack the Ripper, the most salient thing that has remained in the public imagination has been the brutal manner of their murders. While the identity of the murderer has been the subject of… Serhii Plokhy at the Edinburgh International Book Festival ‘Heartbreaking stories of heroism’ set against a backdrop of ‘political cynicism and scientific ignorance'. That’s how judges described the winner of 2018's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction – Serhii Plokhy’s Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy. The… Margaret Atwood Canadian novelist, poet, critic and essayist of global renown and influence, Margaret Atwood's Book Festival events always sell out in a matter of days and her visits to Edinburgh are much anticipated. In this 2005 event she reads some of her short… Bernard MacLaverty Ben Mezrich (2011 Event) His last book was adapted to become The Social Network, one of the most successful movies of 2010. Mezrich then turned his attention to another strange-but-true American tale in his novel Sex on the Moon… A.C. Grayling 'The Legacy of a Complex Man' (2016 Event) Best known for sci-fi novels such as The Time Machine and The Invisible Man, H G Wells also wrote numerous non-fiction works. His wide-ranging ideas pre-dated many modern concerns, including the internet and the black civil rights movement. Yet Wells was… Lola Olufemi & Minna Salami: Critical Reflections on Feminism (2020 Event) Since 2010, the award-winning blog MsAfropolitan has connected feminism with critical reflections on contemporary culture from an Africa-centred perspective. Its founder is Nigerian-Finnish writer and lecturer Minna Salami, a powerhouse of feminist… Maggie O'Farrell: Giving New Life to Shakespeare’s Son (2020 Event) Surely Maggie O’Farrell’s most accomplished novel to date, Hamnet centres around the emotional life of a deeply intuitive woman, charting the terrain of her grief at the loss of a child. Join the Edinburgh-based writer as she discusses her latest… Robert Lewis (2013 event) A decade ago, the death of Dr David Kelly shook the country and for a moment threatened to topple a Blair administration already reeling from dissent against the war in Iraq… Michael Palin (2012 event) The last time Michael Palin appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival was in 1987, when it was directed by Jenny Brown…