James Kelman: Class Act

Captioned

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of James Kelman and his landmark 1994 Booker Prize win for Scottish literature. Nearly 30 years on, we welcome Kelman back to the Festival to speak with writer Graeme Armstrong on God's Teeth and Other Phenomena, a classic example of his observant and eviscerating style.

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

Lucy Hawking Lucy Hawking A young audience plays Who Wants to be a Cosmic Billionaire?, is showered by an asteroid storm and learns about the solar system with Lucy Hawking and her father Professor Stephen Hawking (via live audio link-up) in video highlights from this thrilling 200… Interview - Amit Chaudhuri (2015) Interview - Amit Chaudhuri (2015) Before he took to the stage to talk about his latest novel, Odysseus Abroad, Amit Chaudhuri joined us for a quick chat in Charlotte Square Gardens. You can also hear from some audience members to see what they thought about the event. Amit's hour-long… Kit de Waal: Scenes from an Unpredictable Childhood Kit de Waal: Scenes from an Unpredictable Childhood Kit de Waal’s influence across contemporary British literature is so broad as to be almost immeasurable. So how is it that one of our titans of the written word grew up with only the Bible to read? De Waal comes to this year’s Festival to chat about a… Carol Ann Duffy: ‘You Danced On the Road, Blowing Kisses’ Carol Ann Duffy: ‘You Danced On the Road, Blowing Kisses’ ‘Your vacant room / is a still-life framed by the unclosed door; / read by sunlight, an open book on the floor.’ This plaintive cry will be familiar to many empty nesters who have seen a child grow up and leave home. Written by Carol Ann Duffy, it opens a… Brit Bennett: How the Other Twin Lives Brit Bennett: How the Other Twin Lives For a novel that begins in 1968, Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half may well be the timeliest fiction book of the year. Back in 2014, following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Bennett wrote an essay for Jezebel called ‘I don’t know what… Allan Little, Sheena McDonald & Gail Robinson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Allan Little, Sheena McDonald & Gail Robinson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Twenty years ago, broadcaster Sheena McDonald was hit by a police van, narrowly escaping death. Her recovery led one doctor to describe her as ‘a walking miracle’. In her book Rebuilding Life after Brain Injury, she recalls the accident and its aftermath… Philip Gourevitch Philip Gourevitch The esteemed editor of The Paris Review, Philip Gourevitch discusses the magazine's position as one of the great iconic literary publications. See him divulge behind-the-scenes stories about some of the world's greatest writers who he has interviewed for… Merryn Glover & Hamish Napier: In a New Light Merryn Glover & Hamish Napier: In a New Light The Cairngorms have inspired authors, poets, and songwriters for centuries. 'The New Light' is a performance by writer Merryn Glover and multi-instrumental musician Hamish Napier, a transporting experience of imagery and music. In The Hidden Fires, Glover… James Runcie: The Story of Bach's Masterpiece James Runcie: The Story of Bach's Masterpiece Bach’s St Matthew Passion is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. But what was it like to play and sing it for the first time? James Runcie, bestselling author of The Grantchester Mysteries, talks about the research involved in writing his… Jonathan Safran Foer (2016 Event) Jonathan Safran Foer (2016 Event) The bestselling US author of Everything is Illuminated launches his first novel in 11 years. Jonathan Safran Foer’s Here I Am is the story of a fracturing New York family, set against the backdrop of a much wider catastrophe as an earthquake engulfs the…