Laird Hunt & Colson Whitehead (2017 Event)

Two of the finest writers working in America today take a tour around the dark history of their country. Paul Auster called Laird Hunt's last novel Neverhome 'magnificent'; The Evening Road is his latest, which he discusses in this event, and it's a novel 'as audacious as it is lyrical'. Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad has already won him the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in fiction - listen to the full event, recorded live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival, to find out why. Chaired by Jenny Niven.

Download MP3

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

Listen to more

Stella Rimington (2011 event) Stella Rimington (2011 event) The former director general of MI5 has forged a new career for herself as an author of spy novels, using her inside knowledge of intelligence activities to create a credible new hero, Liz Carlyle… Sue Black with Val McDermid (2018 Event) Sue Black with Val McDermid (2018 Event) Few people are as familiar with death as Professor Sue Black. As a forensic anthropologist she sees it in the form of human remains; at scenes of murder, at burial sites and in her lab. Black’s astonishing book, All That Remains, offers fascinating… Tim Winton at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Tim Winton at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Only dreamers or the desperate would cross the vast saltland deserts of Western Australia. So which is Jaxie Clacton, the lonely boy at the heart of Tim Winton’s brutal, tender novel The Shepherd’s Hut? It’s the latest masterful work by one of the world’s… Marina Endicott and Lisa Moore (2010 event) Marina Endicott and Lisa Moore (2010 event) Canadian author Lisa Moore and Commonwealth Prize-winner Marina Endicott delivered with chair Luke Brown a captivating Book Festival event in 2010 to discuss their affecting explorations of life after death… Christine Otten & The Last Poets (2017 Event) Christine Otten & The Last Poets (2017 Event) The Last Poets were formed in the US in the late 1960s, a period full of hope and a time when the Black Panthers were at the height of their power. Their performance poetry has influenced generations of musicians, securing them the title of ‘the… Frank Close with Peter Higgs (2012 event) Frank Close with Peter Higgs (2012 event) The race to identify the Higgs Boson has led to multi-billion dollar investment in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The return promise… Michael Ondaatje (2011 Event) Michael Ondaatje (2011 Event) The hotly-anticipated novel Cats Cradle is without question Michael Ondaatje's finest to date. Launched worldwide at this event, recorded live at the 2011 Edinburgh International Book Festival, he tells the… Emma Donoghue and FIona Shaw (2010 event) Emma Donoghue and FIona Shaw (2010 event) Listen to two unique writers as they look at love and trauma through a child’s eyes. Emma Donogue’s Room and Fiona Shaw’s Tell it to the Bees are two remarkable works, discussed in depth in this event chaired by Pru Rowlandson… Ian Rankin (2017 Event) Ian Rankin (2017 Event) It's been 30 years since the publication of the first Rebus novel and what better way to celebrate that fact than with one of Scotland's most successful writers, Ian Rankin, who comes with his latest tale featuring the troubled Edinburgh cop… Samantha Power with Allan Little: What One Person Can Do (2020 Event) Samantha Power with Allan Little: What One Person Can Do (2020 Event) The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, former policy advisor to President Obama and Professor of Human Rights talks with Allan Little in our annual Frederick Hood Memorial Lecture, recorded live at the 2020 Book Festival…