Val McDermid & Jo Sharp: Imagine Another Country

Captioned

Two years ago, inspired by Book Festival discussions about the necessity of imagination for political change, Val McDermid and Geographer Royal for Scotland Jo Sharp invited a diverse group of people to share their ideas. This summer a post-pandemic second edition adds more voices to Imagine A Country. Today they are joined by contributors to the new edition, offering an eclectic range of ideas for social change, including Dr Carey Lunan, a GP partner at Craigmillar Medical Group and Chair of the Scottish Deep End project, which serves the 100 most socio-economically deprived populations across the country and Scottish writer and broadcaster Billy Kay.

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

Prue Leith at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Prue Leith at the Edinburgh International Book Festival If The Great British Bake Off is your first encounter with Prue Leith, you’ve missed a great deal. Founder of Leith’s School of Food and Wine, restaurateur, journalist, novelist and now TV judge – she is one of the nation’s most respected foodies. In this… Amy Bloom: Till Death Us Do Part Amy Bloom: Till Death Us Do Part The last time American author Amy Bloom came to the Book Festival in 2014 to talk about Lucky Us, she travelled with her husband Brian. In 2020 they made a very different kind of journey together – to Switzerland where Brian was helped by Dignitas to end… Elif Shafak: Writing the World’s Wrongs Elif Shafak: Writing the World’s Wrongs ‘As the world becomes increasingly polarized, beset with anxiety, anger and tribalism, it’s time for us to turn to the art of storytelling for wisdom, connectivity and much-needed empathy.’ These are the words of Elif Shafak about her latest non-fiction… Melissa Benn (2014 event) Melissa Benn (2014 event) Airbrushed supermodels, unrealistically skinny celebrities, casual sexism in the media. Why, despite everything, are women still not paid equally or properly represented on corporate boards? These are the questions posed by Melissa Benn in her book What… Tom Devine speaks to Allan Little at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Tom Devine speaks to Allan Little at the Edinburgh International Book Festival The Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries helped shape the nation we know today, but historians have struggled to define what happened. Scotland’s leading historian, Sir Tom Devine, brings us The Scottish Clearances, his authoritative, readable and… Matthieu Aikins, Sally Hayden & Polly Pallister-Wilkins: Bordering on Inhumane Matthieu Aikins, Sally Hayden & Polly Pallister-Wilkins: Bordering on Inhumane Deemed by Sally Rooney as the ‘most important work of contemporary reporting’, My Fourth Time, We Drowned explores Sally Hayden’s staggering investigation into the migrant crisis across North Africa. In The Naked Don’t Fear the Water, journalist Matthieu… International Booker Prize: First Interview with the 2020 Winner International Booker Prize: First Interview with the 2020 Winner Since 2016, the International Booker Prize has been given annually to a single book in English translation, with the £50,000 award shared equally between author and translator to acknowledge their extraordinary contribution to world literature, and the… Maria Stepanova & Sasha Dugdale with Allan Little Maria Stepanova & Sasha Dugdale with Allan Little In an era when everything from photographs to credit cards and notes can all be preserved and stored on our personal devices, what is the impact on our own brain’s ability to store memories? Maria Stepanova’s astounding meta-memoir is a panoramic… Gordon Brown: Global Crisis, Global Solutions Gordon Brown: Global Crisis, Global Solutions Since stepping down as an MP in 2015, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has continued to make significant interventions in British public life. He joins us to discuss his latest book, Seven Ways to Change the World, in which he sets out his plan for… Claudia Rankine: 'Words Are Out of Order' Claudia Rankine: 'Words Are Out of Order' We are delighted to welcome Claudia Rankine, author of the ground-breaking American Lyric trilogy, to discuss the Penguin Modern Classics reissue of her daring 2001 masterpiece, Plot. A standout work in Rankine’s stellar career, Plot is an engrossing…