Janice Galloway

Fatima Bhutto & Fay Weldon (2010 event) The celebrated Fay Weldon and the superb Fatima Bhutto captivated Book Festival audiences in this 2010 event chaired by Ruth Padel. Despite their widely different backgrounds, both Fay Weldon and Fatima Bhutto share the way in which a parent’s loss… Jonathan Dimbleby Outstanding journalist and presenter Jonathan Dimbleby travelled thousands of miles to get to the heart of modern Russia. In this absorbing and often moving event from 2008, he gives unique insight into a vast land in transition… Charly Cox, Theresa Lola & Tayi Tibble at the Edinburgh International Book Festival ‘It’s official. We’ve fallen (back) in love with poetry’ the Metro declared earlier this year, reporting a 12% increase in poetry book sales in 2018. Underpinning the boom are bold new voices exploring issues from politics to mental health on page, stage… Conor Gearty & Douglas Murray (2017 Event) In The Strange Death of Europe, Douglas Murray travels from places where migrants land to places where they end up, talking to people who welcome them and others who don't, and finds a continent in a serious muddle. In On Fantasy Island, Conor Gearty… Sophie Hughes & Fernanda Melchor: Another Mexico (2020 Event) Celebrated Mexican author Fernanda Melchor’s first book translated into English, Hurricane Season, has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. In a piece for Granta, the book’s translator Sophie Hughes reflected: ‘Melchor goes with her… James Kelman James Kelman is the single most influential Scottish novelist of modern times and Scotland's only Booker Prize winner. Listen to him discuss his groundbreaking early work in 2007, the year of its reissue… Wendy Cope (2011 Event) The poetry of Kent-born Cope has charmed readers ever since her first collection, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis… Elizabeth Laird reading Red Wolves in the Mist An engaging new story by a much-admired author of young adult fiction, read by the author herself… Robin Robertson reading Partytime The Scottish award-winning poet reads his brand new work on the theme of Elsewhere… A L Kennedy The finest contemporary Scottish writing commissioned especially by the festival. We asked four of our most highly acclaimed writers (John Burnside, Janice Galloway, A L Kennedy and Don Paterson) to create new work - poetry and prose - for this 2008 event…