Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019 Highlights 20–23 August

Stuart Kelly: Walter Scott, Writer of the Future? Walter Scott had more impact than any other author on this country. Quite simply, he reimagined Scotland. Previously conceptualised by the likes of Samuel Johnson as ‘primitive’, with a landscape that was ‘horrid’, by the time Scott was done Scotland was ‘… Interview - Etgar Keret and Alain Mabanckou (2015) Warm, funny and incredibly moving, we spoke to international writers Etgar Keret and Alain Mabanckou in Charlotte Square Gardens before their event about the enduring meaning of home. We also spoke to some audience members to see what they thought about… Naoise Dolan & Naomi Ishiguro: Growing Pains Every year at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, we celebrate the talent, wit and skill of emerging writers. In this event, we are joined by two of the freshest voices in fiction, whose coming-of-age narratives are by turns tender and cynical in… Chris Mullin at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Former Labour MP and writer Chris Mullin returns to the murky political world of his bestselling classic A Very British Coup, in new novel The Friends of Harry Perkins. Brexit is complete, yet the nation remains divided. Fred Thompson, former aide to the… Gordon Brown: Global Crisis, Global Solutions Since stepping down as an MP in 2015, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has continued to make significant interventions in British public life. He joins us to discuss his latest book, Seven Ways to Change the World, in which he sets out his plan for… Salman Rushdie talks to James Naughtie at the Edinburgh International Book Festival One of the most significant writers of our age, Salman Rushdie joined the 2019 Edinburgh International Book Festival for the worldwide launch of his epic novel Quichotte. The book has since been hailed as the author 'at his best' by countless critics; it… Philippe Sands with Ian Rankin: On the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive Philippe Sands’s celebrated 2016 memoir East West Street, expertly interwove the personal story of his ancestors in the Ukrainian city of Lviv with a professional interest in the establishment of international law in the aftermath of the Holocaust. His… Chris Brookmyre: One Island, Seven Secrets How much can really go wrong at a hen party? Bride-to-be Jen is about to find out. A private island provides a getaway for the celebrations, but it quickly becomes the backdrop to chaos, a disappearance and an anonymous blackmailer demanding that one of… Scholastique Mukasonga: Reclaiming Rwanda’s Stories The genocide of 1994 in Rwanda continues to cast a long shadow over the country – and over its European colonisers. Belgian colonists and missionaries originally favoured Rwanda’s minority Tutsi people (even devising an ‘ethnic identity card’ in 1931) but… James Acaster at the Edinburgh International Book Festival He’s been described as ‘a beige corduroy patchwork of eccentric inflections and odd obsessions that manages to be both supremely anorakish and strangely swaggering.’ Thanks to this singular style, James Acaster has become one of Britain’s funniest and…