Chris Riddell (2016 Event)

Award-winning author Siobhan Dowd died in 2007, bequeathing her royalties to a trust which aims to bring the joy of reading to those who need it most. In 2016, the Book Festival's Siobhan Dowd Trust Memorial Lecture was delivered by Children's Laureate, Chris Riddell. A prolific illustrator and writer, he talks about his passion for stories - both written and drawn - and the importance of giving all children access to books.

Book Festival News

Communities Programme participants celebrate success of 2024 Communities Programme participants celebrate success of 2024
Friday 13 December

Enjoying this event? You can help us produce more like it.

Donate

Share

Watch more

Roger Robinson: ‘Ordinary Poems Won’t Change the World’ Roger Robinson: ‘Ordinary Poems Won’t Change the World’ Earmarked as ‘the voice of our communal consciousness’ by Edinburgh International Book Festival’s 2018 Guest Selector Afua Hirsch, it’s hard to believe that Roger Robinson hasn’t been a staple of British public life since time immemorial. A fixture of the… William Dalrymple with Fergal Keane: Rapacity and Excess in Imperial India William Dalrymple with Fergal Keane: Rapacity and Excess in Imperial India In the hands of William Dalrymple, history becomes a rip-roaring, rollicking adventure; the reader embarking on a visceral odyssey into the subject thanks to Dalrymple’s glorious gift for storytelling and his eye for detail. In The Anarchy, the… Danny Dorling, Geetha Marcus, Joelle Taylor, Val McDermid at Edinburgh International Book Festival Danny Dorling, Geetha Marcus, Joelle Taylor, Val McDermid at Edinburgh International Book Festival This discussion, led by 2019 guest selector Val McDermid and filmed live at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, explores the many forms of homelessness: sleeping rough, sofa surfing, living in cars and temporary accommodation. Geographer Danny… Tom Devine speaks to Allan Little at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Tom Devine speaks to Allan Little at the Edinburgh International Book Festival The Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries helped shape the nation we know today, but historians have struggled to define what happened. Scotland’s leading historian, Sir Tom Devine, brings us The Scottish Clearances, his authoritative, readable and… Maggie O'Farrell: Loves, Labours, Loss Maggie O'Farrell: Loves, Labours, Loss Edinburgh-based Maggie O’Farrell hit a spectacular new career high last year with the publication of Hamnet – winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a huge bestseller across the world and unquestionably a standout book of 2020. Why did O’Farrell’s novel… Reading Scotland: Jen Hadfield, Landscape and Light Reading Scotland: Jen Hadfield, Landscape and Light Poet Jen Hadfield sometimes writes outside near her home on Shetland, taking a notebook with her and disappearing into the landscape, returning when she gets cold and hungry. The islands – situated between Scotland and Norway – have provided fertile… Raja Shehadeh: The Quest for Peace Raja Shehadeh: The Quest for Peace For many years, lawyer and writer Raja Shehadeh has shared his wisdom about life under occupation in the Palestinian West Bank. Each year he and his wife Penny travel from their home in Ramallah to spend the summer in Edinburgh, and Book Festival… Chelsea Clinton (2018 Event) Chelsea Clinton (2018 Event) From Harriet Tubman to Oprah Winfrey, plenty of tenacious women have fought for freedom in America. Chelsea Clinton saluted them in her children’s book, She Persisted. Now, with She Persisted Around the World, Clinton celebrates women shaping global human… Chigozie Obioma: Brothers in Arms Chigozie Obioma: Brothers in Arms Twice Booker-shortlisted author Chigozie Obioma’s new novel, The Road to the Country, is the story of two brothers divided during the devastating Nigerian Civil War. As they seek to reunite, their journeys become odysseys in a war-torn land. Obioma –… Bonnie Greer (2014 event) Bonnie Greer (2014 event) Best known in the UK as a dispassionate commentator on BBC Newsnight Review and Question Time – even when sitting beside the leader of the BNP – Bonnie Greer has now written the first volume of her memoirs, A Parallel Life. In this event she…