Interview - John Burnside & Jon Kalmar Stefansson (2015)

Bringing myths and fables together from Scotland and Iceland, we caught up with writers John Burnside and Jón Kalman Stefánsson before their joint event in Charlotte Square Gardens. Afterwards we asked fans what they thought about the event. You can see John and Jón's hour-long event here on our website and on the edbookfest's youtube channel, filmed live as part of Trading Stories at the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Loading the player... if your browser supports audio and video it should appear in a few moments.

Book Festival News

Celebrating the 2024 Book Festival Celebrating the 2024 Book Festival
Monday 26 August

Enjoying this event? You can help us produce more like it.

Donate

Share

Watch more

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi: Uganda’s First Woman of Fiction Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi: Uganda’s First Woman of Fiction Ugandan short story writer and novelist Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi burst onto the scene when she won The Kwani? Manuscript Project in 2013 with her first novel Kintu. Since then, she’s garnered legions of readers and accolades including a Commonwealth… Janey Godley: Secrets in 70s Glasgow Janey Godley: Secrets in 70s Glasgow One of Scotland’s most beloved comedians continues to blaze a trail – this time taking a step into crime fiction. With her debut novel Nothing Left Unsaid, Janey Godley takes us to 1970s Glasgow via the diary of a dying mother. In the tenements of… Karl Ove Knausgaard: The Familiar Made Strange Karl Ove Knausgaard: The Familiar Made Strange My Struggle was the six-volume autofictional project that established Karl Ove Knausgaard among the world’s most respected writers. Now, the Norwegian author embarks on a new literary odyssey. The Morning Star is a novel steeped in the uncanny, haunted by… Jack Monroe at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Jack Monroe at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Good food should be affordable for everyone. Jack Monroe is an active anti-poverty campaigner and her recipe books – including Cooking on a Bootstrap and Tin Can Cook – are about making simple yet delicious recipes on a shoestring, based on her own… Roddy Doyle (2010 event) Roddy Doyle (2010 event) Booker Prize author Roddy Doyle's writing has been described as urgent, funny and often deeply moving, in this video we see him reading from his new novel The Dead Republic before responding to audience questions… Cathy Newman at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Cathy Newman at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Bloody Brilliant Women is Channel 4 News anchor Cathy Newman’s paean to those women who’ve shaped modern Britain, with the likes of Emmeline Pankhurst sharing pages with heroes like Beatrice Shilling, whose engineering prowess helped win the Battle of… Jamaica Kincaid: Write Out of Defiance Jamaica Kincaid: Write Out of Defiance According to the New York Times, Antiguan-American novelist, essayist and academic Jamaica Kincaid has a ‘poet’s understanding of how politics and history, private and public events, overlap and blur’. This summer, five of her books will be republished… Olga Ravn & Martin Aitken with Heather Parry Olga Ravn & Martin Aitken with Heather Parry Since she published her debut novel Celestine in 2015, Olga Ravn has come to be regarded as one of the most influential writers in contemporary Danish literature. In her new book, The Employees, she has crafted a small masterpiece; brilliantly translated… Kathleen Jamie, Peter Mackay & Don Paterson: Heavenly Scottish Poetry Kathleen Jamie, Peter Mackay & Don Paterson: Heavenly Scottish Poetry ‘It’s Hell for the poet arriving for the gig’ – so began Liz Lochhead’s 2004 poem ‘Hell for Poets’. But perhaps what her poem really wanted to express is that hell itself (or the biggest challenges thrown at us in life) can often be inspiration for the… UNBOUND: The Paris Review UNBOUND: The Paris Review Pioneers of extraordinary literature since 1953 impart literary wisdom from across the AtlantiC…