Raven Leilani & Patricia Lockwood: Sharp, Fragmentary Fiction

Fans of cutting-edge fiction will not want to miss this brilliant meeting of minds. Both Patricia Lockwood and Raven Leilani have written sizzling debut novels that have been celebrated by critics, loved by readers and have gained recognition from major literary prizes. Patricia Lockwood’s No One Is Talking About This (shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize) is a genre-defying examination of family, grief, loss and how we experience them in the shadow of the internet: ‘the portal’ that seems to know us better than we know ourselves. In Raven Leilani’s beautiful and sharp novel Luster (winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2021) protagonist Edie is trying to manage her simmering quarter-life crisis while navigating an increasingly complex set of rules about sex, relationships and racial politics. Lockwood and Leilani join award-winning journalist, book editor and podcast host Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff to explore contemporary life and society in all its contradictions, entanglements and fragmentation. 

This event was filmed live at the 2021 Edinburgh International Book Festival. All participants in the event took part remotely.

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

Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor: Across the Indian Ocean Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor: Across the Indian Ocean ‘In this dazzling novel you will find the entirety of human experience – tearshed, bloodshed, lust, love – in staggering proportions.’ So said Taiye Selasi about Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s debut novel Dust in 2015 – a book that heralded the arrival of a… Paul Auster (2017 Event) Paul Auster (2017 Event) The great American novelist makes his first ever appearance at the Book Festival. In 4 3 2 1, Paul Auster gives Archibald Isaac Ferguson, an only child, four different stories. Four Fergusons made of the same genetic material, four boys who are the same… Siri Hustvedt with Elif Shakaf (2017 event) Siri Hustvedt with Elif Shakaf (2017 event) From Dickens to Vermeer and psychoanalysis to neuroscience, Siri Hustvedt is a writer of remarkable range and insight. In this event recorded live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival she speaks to acclaimed Turkish novelist and writer Elif… Murray Pittock: Old Scotia's Grandeur Springs Murray Pittock: Old Scotia's Grandeur Springs Who better to chronicle Scotland’s role in international affairs than Murray Pittock, one of Scotland’s leading historians? He has authored a series of key texts on Scottish history and identity and brought his huge expertise to bear on a roster of… Wayétu Moore: Setting Liberia’s History Free Wayétu Moore: Setting Liberia’s History Free In 19th century Liberia, extreme powerlessness meets extraordinary powers in Wayétu Moore’s magical and magisterial debut She Would Be King. Melding historical record with magic realism and fantastical elements, Moore weaves an extraordinary retelling of… John Burnside and Jon Kalman Stefansson (2015 Event) John Burnside and Jon Kalman Stefansson (2015 Event) Award-winning poet and novelist John Burnside and acclaimed Icelandic novelist Jón Kalman Stefánsson got together with interviewer Daniel Hahn to talk about their new books and explore why contemporary writers turn to the stuff of legend for… Juliana Buhring (2017 event) Juliana Buhring (2017 event) Feats of human endurance never cease to amaze and enthral. In 2012, against all odds, Juliana Buhring became the first woman to circumnavigate the world on a bike, after very little training and with barely any financial backing. In this event filmed live… Elena Pala, John Retallack & Sandro Veronesi: The World of the Hummingbird Elena Pala, John Retallack & Sandro Veronesi: The World of the Hummingbird Sandro Veronesi’s international bestselling novel, The Hummingbird, is transformed into an exclusive, experimental and immersive event for the Book Festival by the team who adapted it for BBC Radio 3. Experience the impressionistic, dreamlike life of ‘the… Alistair Moffat: A Tale of Zero Hour Alistair Moffat: A Tale of Zero Hour In Alistair Moffat’s ingenious thriller The Night Before Morning, the summer of 1945 finds Hitler victorious and Britain under German control. The author of more than 20 books of non-fiction, Moffat is an incisive historian and hugely popular public… Amy Liptrot: Traffic Islands Are for Lovers Amy Liptrot: Traffic Islands Are for Lovers Amy Liptrot’s first memoir, The Outrun, offered irresistibly readable reflections on alcoholism, sea swimming and solitary sobriety in Orkney. Her new book, The Instant, follows on from The Outrun as Liptrot moves to achingly cool Berlin, yearning for the…