Christopher Brookmyre

John Mortimer Utter delight in the company of one of the most effervescent minds in the land, creator of Rumpole of the Bailey and now a wonderful new comic novel, Quite Honestly. This 2006 event with John Mortimer is great fun… Raja Shehadeh A breathtaking 2007 event with Palestinian human rights lawyer and writer Raja Shehadeh. He here launches his new book Palestinian Walks in which he crosses his land on foot; conflicts and history revealed in the beautiful and battered landscapes. Chaired… Raymond Blanc One of the nicest chefs we've ever had the pleasure of welcoming to Charlotte Square Gardens ? he even made up a special recipe for us on the spot after his event (see our blog). Here he tells his remarkable life story, which took him from a boyhood… Polly Toynbee and David Walker (2010 Event) So what exactly did twelve years of undiluted New Labour achieve? Polly Toynbee and David Walker, co-authors of two previous books on the subject, returned to the Book Festival in 2010 with the definitive assessment… Monica Cantieni and Sunjeev Sahota (2015 Event) Watch two authors who explore the immigrant experience powerfully in their unforgettable new novels. Monica Cantieni’s The Encyclopaedia of Good Reasons, translated by Donal McLaughlin, tells the deeply moving story of a young girl’s long wait… Steve Sem-Sandberg and Sjón (2016 Event) Meet two of Europe's most talented novelists. Swedish writer Steve Sem-Sandberg’s The Chosen Ones follows his towering novel The Emperor of Lies in describing brutality and tenderness in the Nazi era – this time in a home for sick children in Vienna… Cédric Villani (2015 Event) Forget about the maths you learned at school; the charismatic Cédric Villani has a gift for revealing the beauty and magic of mathematics at the highest level. Dubbed a ‘rock-star mathematician’, the French winner of the maths… Mark Robson Children's writer Mark Robson reveals, to an engaged audience of school children in this 2008 event, how his experiences as a Royal Air Force pilot helped prepare him to write his exciting Dragon Orb quartet of books. He speaks about the power of tenacity… Edwyn Collins & Grace Maxwell with Ian Rankin (2015 Event) ‘Moving beyond words’ was one critic’s response to The Possibilities Are Endless, a documentary charting Edwyn Collins’ return to relative good health after two massive strokes in 2005. That film, and a recent book, were the… Ibram X Kendi talks to Deray Mckesson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival We all occasionally do things that are racist, yet often fail to recognise them. Ibram X Kendi is a founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center in Washington DC. How To Be an Antiracist is his extraordinary, inspiring guidebook which…