Billy Collins

Ma Jian (2013 event) Ma Jian’s criticisms of China’s government led to it placing a blanket ban on all his future books in 1987. He participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and now… Salman Rushdie at the Edinburgh International Book Festival One of the most significant writers of our age, Salman Rushdie joins the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019 for the worldwide launch of epic novel Quichotte… Helen & Morna Mulgray Lively chat with the Edinburgh-based crime writing twins after their 2009 Book Festival event. They discuss their joint writing technique, outline the plot to their latest novel (which centres on a cat named Gorgonzola) and ask listeners to cast a… Thomas Keneally at the Edinburgh International Book Festival The Booker Prize-winning Australian author of Schindler’s Ark, Thomas Keneally comes to the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019 having woven another masterpiece in The Book of Science and Antiquities. Ancient human remains are found in… The A-Z of Poetry with Michael Rosen, Carol Ann Duffy, Tom Pow & John Sampson The electrifying and infectious Children's Laureate is joined by top poets, musicians and writers for children (Carol Ann Duffy, Tom Pow and John Sampson) in this unique 2008 event which plays with words and makes them dance. For children of 5 and upwards… Anne Enright Man Booker winner and one of the finest Irish writers, Anne Enright brings to life her intensely poetic writing, focussing on her new collection of stories Taking Pictures in this 2008 event… Kenny MacAskill (2016 Event) In 2009, then Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill controversially granted the release on compassionate grounds of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man ever convicted for the Lockerbie Bombing in 1988. Now MacAskill has written his own account of the… Jo Nesbo (2011 Event) Jo Nesbø, the king of Nordic crime fiction, came to Edinburgh to discuss his latest thrilling work, The Leopard… Anita Nair - with William Dalrymple Ingrid Betancourt with Kirsty Wark (2011 Event) When Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt went on the campaign trail in 2002, she could not have imagined that it would end in a kidnapping and six year incarceration at the hands of guerrilla forces…