Rosemary Goring: Mary Stuart's Homecoming

Despite spending just 12 years in Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots irrevocably shaped the nation; she inhabits our imagination like no other monarch. In Homecoming, literary editor Rosemary Goring ‘breathes life into this legendary queen’ (Southern Reporter), exploring the tumultuous Scottish years of her reign with fresh eyes. Hear Goring talk to Ruth Wishart about the iconic places that were the backdrop for Mary’s singular life.

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

Watch more

Marlon James: A Fantastical Star Marlon James: A Fantastical Star What does a writer do once they’ve won the Booker Prize? If you’re the indefatigable Marlon James, you embark on a wildly ambitious series that defies easy characterisation. The second in the Dark Star trilogy Moon Witch, Spider King draws inventively on… Andrew O'Hagan: How the Mighty Have Fallen Andrew O'Hagan: How the Mighty Have Fallen A celebrated London professor falls from grace in Andrew O’Hagan’s new novel, Caledonian Road. Immersive and Dickensian in ambition, it’s a brilliant state-of-the-nation novel about privilege and what’s really going on behind high society’s façade. As… UNBOUND: Cargo Special Delivery UNBOUND: Cargo Special Delivery Joining (parcel) forces were Radio 4 favourite Anneliese Macintosh and novelists Allan Wilson and Tracey S Rosenberg… Matt Haig: Reasons to Feel Okay Matt Haig: Reasons to Feel Okay Since the publication of his 2015 memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, Matt Haig has become one of Britain’s best-loved and bestselling authors, gently guiding his legion of fans on a path towards better mental health. Haig’s most recent novel The Midnight… Samantha Power with Allan Little: What One Person Can Do Samantha Power with Allan Little: What One Person Can Do As a war correspondent in the Balkans, through to her time as senior policy advisor to Barack Obama, and her appointment in 2013 as US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power has spent her career committed to resolving international conflict and… Akala (2018 Event) Akala (2018 Event) Race and class have shaped the world of MOBO award-winning hip hop artist, poet and political commentator Akala. In Natives, his searing polemic on race in the UK, he considers his own experiences in both childhood and as an adult, and connects them to… David Diop & Anna Moschovakis: Winners of the 2021 International Booker Prize David Diop & Anna Moschovakis: Winners of the 2021 International Booker Prize French-Senegalese author David Diop, whose At Night All Blood Is Black has won this year’s International Booker Prize, joins us with translator Anna Moschovakis to discuss their unforgettable short novel. In a story set in the French trenches of the First… Carol Ann Duffy: ‘You Danced On the Road, Blowing Kisses’ Carol Ann Duffy: ‘You Danced On the Road, Blowing Kisses’ ‘Your vacant room / is a still-life framed by the unclosed door; / read by sunlight, an open book on the floor.’ This plaintive cry will be familiar to many empty nesters who have seen a child grow up and leave home. Written by Carol Ann Duffy, it opens a… Hari Kunzru: The Breakdown of Truth Hari Kunzru: The Breakdown of Truth Since Hari Kunzru’s last appearance at the Book Festival in 2017, the world has witnessed a dramatic quickening of social division in the United States, fuelled in part by internet conspiracies and communities. Kunzru makes his long-awaited return to… Doug Johnstone, Val McDermid, Ambrose Parry & Mary Paulson-Ellis: Summer Crime Wave Doug Johnstone, Val McDermid, Ambrose Parry & Mary Paulson-Ellis: Summer Crime Wave A few months ago there was a minor storm in the Twitterverse when a group of Scottish authors realised their books would all be published on more or less the same day in August. How could we ignore this explosion of Scottish crime writing? Today we’re…