Gordon Brown - 25th Anniversary Opening Event

Robin Robertson reading Partytime The Scottish award-winning poet reads his brand new work on the theme of Elsewhere… Chen Guangcheng (2015 Event) The blind Chinese dissident and human rights activist, Chen Guangcheng, escaped house arrest in Dongshigu and sought refuge in the US Embassy in 2012. Here he speaks about his memoir, The Barefoot Lawyer, in which he reveals his view of the flawed… Olivia Laing: Art is Political (2020 Event) With Fiona Bradley, Director of the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Laing unpacks our political, emotional and creative selves in this event recorded live at the 2020 Book Festival, drawing us in to her career-spanning conversations with art, with… David Mitchell (2010 event) The remarkable author of the Booker-winning Cloud Atlas sold out the Book Festival's biggest venue many weeks in advance. Talking to chair Steven Gale, he delighted festival audiences with his warmth and humour, offering a fascinating insight into how… Chigozie Obioma & Simon Sylvester (2015 Event) Chigozie Obioma’s thrillingly assured debut novel The Fishermen is set in small-town Nigeria, while Simon Sylvester’s seductive debut The Visitors unfolds on a remote Scottish island. Yet despite their disparate locations, these stories are… Tam Dalyell with James Naughtie (2011 event) There can be few backbench politicians who have had as much influence on British politics as Tam Dalyell. Fiercely independent and a thorn in the side of several Prime Ministers, his contributions to politics include his vocal opposition to military… Outriders: Ximena Escalante & Stef Smith (2017 Event) As part of our project to explore the Americas, leading Mexican playwright Ximena Escalante travelled across Mexico with Scottish theatre writer Stef Smith. Starting in the US city of San Diego, they journeyed south across the Mexican border, making their… William Nicholson - with Charlie Fletcher Academy Award nominee William Nicholson (Shadowlands and Gladiator) and Charlie Fletcher (Taggart, Afterlife) are both currently adapting their novels for the screen - what will that mean for the stories? They offer a few insights in this 2007 podcast… Michael Scheuer (2011 event) The death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 marked a key moment in the history of the so-called War on Terror. But Michael Scheuer, formerly the chief of the CIA unit responsible for capturing the elusive Saudi, believes bin Laden’s death will make no… Roger Robinson: ‘Ordinary Poems Won’t Change the World (2020 Event) Firmly rooted in the dub poetry tradition of his Trinidadian heritage, Robinson’s plain-speaking, fizzy, often joyous verse journeys through our contemporary preoccupations with a seasoned insight few could replicate. From the ongoing injustices of…