Interview - Diana Gabaldon (2014)

Maaza Mengiste: When Italy Invaded Ethiopia In Maaza Mengiste’s latest novel, the shadowy nature of figures from the past is played out in complex and interlocking ways. The Shadow King is powerful, stirring historical fiction that centres women within stories of war and battle that have… Too Much Information? The downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014 was an event shrouded in misinformation. With reporters far from the location, misleading information put out by governments, and scant first-hand accounts, how did journalists determine… James Crawford: Traces of the Past The search for hidden landscapes drives the work of Shetland-born author James Crawford, whose books have explored borders, lost buildings, and – in conjunction with his BBC series Scotland from the Sky – the views revealed by photography from the air… Marian Keyes: Disaster Averted The bestselling author arrives at the Festival with a hilarious, heart-warming new novel. In My Favourite Mistake, Anna trades in her high-flying life in New York to help her friends open a wellness retreat in a tiny Irish town. When the locals protest… Mieko Kawakami: Three Daughters of Osaka While this year’s release of Breasts and Eggs marks the first time Mieko Kawakami has been translated into English (by Sam Bett and David Boyd), she has been a literary sensation in Japan for more than ten years. Her legions of fans include Haruki… David Peace & Chris Power: Cities That Cast Long Shadows Berlin and Tokyo: two peaceful and thriving cities… yet each haunted by the weight of history, where everything is imbued with ‘the stench of the past, the noise of the future.’ Chris Power’s clever debut novel A Lonely Man is set in Berlin under the… Dionne Brand & Claudia Rankine: Poetry and Power  A rare opportunity to witness two of the most lauded and celebrated North American poets of recent years in conversation. With careers spanning several decades, Dionne Brand and Claudia Rankine discuss their writing to date, and how they have used the… David Mitchell with Sam Amidon: The Music of Utopia Avenue While the Summer of Love is about to unfold across the Atlantic, life in 1967 isn’t so easy for a young would-be musician in London’s shabby Charing Cross Road. Yet from this modest starting point, David Mitchell builds a joyful fictional biography of a… Noam Chomsky: Dissent Across the Decades Whether it’s discussing linguistics with Foucault in a televised debate, authoring more than 100 books or being a fierce critic of American foreign policy, Noam Chomsky has been a highly influential figure for nearly seven decades. Now in his mid 90s, he… Markus Zusak speaks to Janet Ellis at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Thirteen years since his multi-million bestseller The Book Thief, Markus Zusak joins fellow writer Janet Ellis for his first Book Festival appearance with his much-anticipated follow-up, Bridge of Clay. In this ambitious portrait of a family, Zusak…