Claire MacDonald - with John Dickie

Margaret Atwood She is one of the world's most gifted and eminent authors, on a special visit from Canada to receive the Scottish Arts Council's Muriel Spark International Fellowship. Always an entertaining speaker, here Margaret Atwood talks about her life as a writer… Tom Kitchin One of the UK's most exciting chefs, Tom Kitchin launched his first book in this event at the Book Festival. From Nature to Plate captures his story from trainee to Michelin-star chef while taking us through the seasons and some of his favourite recipes… Donal Ryan & Kamila Shamsie (2018 Event) Donal Ryan's novels are a thrilling journey into the psyche of everyday Irish folk, but From a Low and Quiet Sea departs from his previous three books by extending its setting beyond rural Ireland into war-torn Syria. Kamila Shamsie’s highly praised Home… Jesse Jackson (2015 Event) One of the best-respected and most formidable civil rights activists of the 20th century, the Reverend Jesse Jackson worked for Martin Luther King in the 1960s… The Voices in Our Heads: Creating Characters in Fiction (2014 event) The first sign that a book works is when the characters talk back to their author, and books can represent our internal voices unlike any other art form. A panel of award-winning novelists, Nathan Filer, Edward Carey and Matthew Quick talk about their… Robert Macfarlane (2012 event) In The Old Ways, shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize, the celebrated author Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge home… Mark Walters with Pat Nevin at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Footballer Mark Walters is remembered for his wing wizardry, but while he’s revered by the Rangers faithful who cheered him for four trophy-laden years, he also endured racist chants – an issue he campaigns against now. In this event recorded live at the 2… Jackie Kay A captivating hour of poetry from Jackie Kay, a Book Festival favourite whose events regularly sell-out, this being no exception. Listen to her words, revel in the language. Definitely one to listen to again and again… Tim Burgess with Ian Rankin (2013 event) Tim Burgess’ rock and roll battles and the death of keyboard player Rob Collins are among the events in The Charlatans’ front man’s upbeat memoir, Telling Stories… Serhii Plokhy at the Edinburgh International Book Festival ‘Heartbreaking stories of heroism’ set against a backdrop of ‘political cynicism and scientific ignorance'. That’s how judges described the winner of 2018's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction – Serhii Plokhy’s Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy. The…