Alexander McCall Smith

Richard Dawkins (2018 Event) Whatever your opinion of Richard Dawkins, and few people choose to sit on the fence when it comes to the world’s best-known evolutionary biologist, his passion for science cannot be denied. In Science in the Soul, he asks whether his discipline can… Andrew O'Hagan A magnificently intelligent essayist, novelist, critic, and a mesmerising speaker. Andrew O'Hagan talks to Magnus Linklater in this 2008 event about politics, Scotland and his recent collection of reportage on a declining Britain and a rising America, The… Ian McEwan with Alex Salmond (2012 event) According to Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, his eclectic cultural interests range from Miss Marple… Yiyun Li reading A Tale of Two Cities The brilliant young Chinese-American writer reads her short story on the theme of Elsewhere… Frans Timmermans with Gordon Brown: The Way Forward for Europe (2020 Event) In this special conversation recorded live at the 2020 Edinburgh International Book Festival, Timmermans sits down with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss the politics of environmental change. How much action is needed for meaningful change?… Damian Barr (2013 Event) In his effervescent memoir Maggie and Me, journalist, writer and gifted storyteller Damian Barr explains how his family, living in the shadow of Ravenscraig, learned to thrive… Patrick Gale (2018 Event) Fans of Patrick Gale, and of Rough Music in particular, will be thrilled to learn that he launches his 16th novel, Take Nothing With You, in this conversation with Eleanor Updale recorded live at the 2018 Edinburgh International Book Festival. The story… Mai Al-Nakib & Tom Barbash (2014 event) Our 2014 First Book Award-winner Kuwaiti author Mai Al-Nakib comes together in this event with bestselling San Francisco writer Tom Barbash to talk about their brilliant, moving short-story collections… Alistair MacLeod Much to our delight, Alistair MacLeod agreed to travel across the Atlantic from his home in Ontario to be with us at the 2009 Book Festival. One of the foremost novelists and short story writers, he is a master craftsman, an exquisite stylist whose work… Hanif Kureishi One of the most distinctive and fearless writers in Britain, Hanif Kureishi has been a major and vital presence since Buddha of Suburbia. Sex, middle-age, love, longing, race, regret and psychoanalysis are all wholly present in his latest novel, Something…