Beste Edinburgh International Book Festival podcasts (2024)

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Gerda Stevenson (2018 Event) 57:05

6y ago57:05

57:05

GREAT WOMEN OF SCOTLAND In histories written by men, good women have rarely been given much credit. In Scotland, there’s a growing urge to redress the balance and, with her new collection Quines, Gerda Stevenson has produced a very necessary corrective. These unforgettable poems recognise the salt sellers, the fish-gutters, scientists and politicia…

1
Guy Gunaratne & Imran Mahmood (2018 Event) 58:44

6y ago58:44

58:44

EXPLOSIVE FICTION Meet two new writers whose debuts are turning heads. Guy Gunaratne’s In Our Mad and Furious City follows three young men in a London estate where riots are spreading after the killing of a British soldier. Imran Mahmood has spent his career as a barrister and he puts his experience to electric use in You Don’t Know Me, a courtroom…

1
Jo Swinson (2018 Event) 55:30

6y ago55:30

55:30

ELIMINATING GENDER INEQUALITY As deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and a former Government minister, Jo Swinson has seen all too clearly how power can be concentrated in the hands of men right across the business, cultural and political spectrum. Equal Power is the East Dunbartonshire MP’s call to arms; a practical and optimistic guide to what…

1
Sean Borodale & Ruth Padel (2018 Event) 59:02

6y ago59:02

59:02

BLACK BLOSSOM OF MOURNING The exceptional emotional breadth of British poetry is on display in this event featuring Sean Borodale and Ruth Padel. Borodale, described by Carol Ann Duffy as ‘the most exciting new poet I’ve read since Alice Oswald’, brings Asylum, a new collection that nods to the Underworld. Prize-winning poet Padel presents Emerald,…

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Donal Ryan & Kamila Shamsie (2018 Event) 1:00:24

6y ago1:00:24

1:00:24

CROSSING CONTINENTS 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 Fire is another transnational novel, a contemporary take on the Antigone my…

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Shahad Al Rawi & Michael Donkor (2018 Event) 1:02:46

6y ago1:02:46

1:02:46

JUST GOOD FRIENDS Two coming-of-age tales come under the microscope in this event. Shahad Al Rawi’s poignant debut The Baghdad Clock takes us back to 1991 with the Iraqi capital under fire as two girls bond against the backdrop of military bombardment. Michael Donkor’s moving and unexpectedly funny debut novel Hold, switches between Ghana and Brita…

1
Sue Black with Val McDermid (2018 Event) 55:49

6y ago55:49

55:49

THE BARE BONES Few people are as familiar with death as Professor Sue Black. As a forensic anthropologist she sees it in the form of human remains; at scenes of murder, at burial sites and in her lab. Black’s astonishing book, All That Remains, offers fascinating insights into mortality and the value of forensic science. Today she compares notes wi…

1
Tony Juniper (2018 Event) 58:08

6y ago58:08

58:08

SAVE THE FUTURE It seems as if people have been trying to save the rainforests for a very long time. And while approximately half of their area has been effectively destroyed, it’s not too late to do the right thing by the other 50%. After all, it’s only the future of the planet that’s at stake. Environmental campaigner and author of Rainforest Ton…

1
David France (2018 Event) 57:32

6y ago57:32

57:32

LIVING AFTER SURVIVING How to Survive a Plague is David France’s history of the fight against AIDS, the disease caused by HIV that has killed over 35 million people worldwide. Described as ‘subtle and searing', it won the Baillie Gifford Prize last year. Now the Book Festival and the Prize have commissioned France to write a new chapter, responding…

1
Dag Solstad (2018 Event) 1:00:10

6y ago1:00:10

1:00:10

NORWAY'S TOP PRIZE-WINNING NOVELIST One of Norway’s most celebrated contemporary writers joins us with his latest novel, T Singer. Set in the small Norwegian town of Notodden, Dag Solstad's story is a heartbreaking account of love and loneliness, which lays bare the existential questions of life in the author’s bleakly comic style. Solstad is the o…

1
Akala (2018 Event) 1:03:02

6y ago1:03:02

1:03:02

THE RUINS OF EMPIRE 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 the social, political and historical context that have led us to where we are…

1
Richard Holloway (2018 Event) 55:52

6y ago55:52

55:52

MEMENTO MORI ‘Remember you will die’, said the slave to the Roman general. Richard Holloway’s new book, Waiting for the Last Bus, is a reflection on the final curtain we must all face. Thoughtful, engaging and often quietly moving, it’s a manual for dying elegantly and a plea to make the best of the days we have left. Join the good Reverend for a l…

1
Yanis Varoufakis with Shami Chakrabarti (2018 Event) 57:56

6y ago57:56

57:56

THE ECONOMICS OF LIBERTY Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has written several influential books and has co-founded ‘DiEM25’, a pan-European progressive movement which will be competing in next year’s European parliament elections. Adults in the Room was described as ‘one of the greatest political memoirs of all time’, while Talking to…

1
David Walliams (2018 Event) 54:19

6y ago54:19

54:19

Britain's biggest author, David Walliams, brings his unique sense of humour to the Book Festival as he shares with you his latest hilarious bestseller, Bad Dad. Be inspired to get writing your own funny stories as David explains how he became the fastest growing children's author in the UK. Author and BBC Radio 4's Zeb Soanes joins David on stage t…

1
Juno Dawson: Clean (2018 Event) 56:20

6y ago56:20

56:20

As a School Role Model for the charity Stonewall, Juno Dawson is well versed in communicating the nitty gritty to young adults. She returns to the Festival with her razor sharp novel about one young girl's rise from the lows of heroin addiction. A gripping and edgy portrait of addiction and tackling demons, Clean is an important and clever book. Ju…

1
Adam Kay (2018 Event) 1:00:46

6y ago1:00:46

1:00:46

DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE? Working a 97 hour week doesn’t sound much fun for anyone, but when we’re talking about an NHS doctor, such a schedule could become a matter of life and death. In This is Going to Hurt, comedian and ex-junior doctor Adam Kay reflects on the often horrific conditions he was working under and what finally happened to make him hang…

1
Stuart MacBride with Stephanie Merritt (2018 Event) 1:01:46

6y ago1:01:46

1:01:46

CRIME FOR THE MASSES Just what does it take to write a page-turning bestselling crime novel? Dumbarton-born, Aberdeen-raised Stuart MacBride can offer plenty of advice on that front, given his Logan McRae series keeps on hitting the heights of popularity. Fellow writer Stephanie Merritt joins him to delve into The Blood Road, his 11th Logan mystery…

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Sophie Mackintosh & Leni Zumas (2018 Event) 1:03:39

6y ago1:03:39

1:03:39

WHAT'S A WOMAN FOR? Fans of Naomi Alderman’s The Power will appreciate these ambitious political novels about women defying restrictions. Sophie Mackintosh’s The Water Cure centres on three women raised in total isolation and the men who come to find them. Leni Zumas’s Red Clocks sees four women drawn together in resistance in an imagined America w…

1
Patrick Gale (2018 Event) 58:48

6y ago58:48

58:48

CELLOS BY THE SEASIDE 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. The story of a 50-something gay Londoner undergoing radiation therapy, remembering his eccentric 1970s childhood in Weston-super-Mare and a life-cha…

1
Gina Miller (2018 Event) 1:00:18

6y ago1:00:18

1:00:18

STANDING UP FOR JUSTICE Gina Miller came to prominence when she successfully took the British government to the Supreme Court, challenging its authority to trigger Article 50, the formal notification to leave the EU, without parliamentary approval. Guyana-born Miller became the target of racist and sexist abuse, and physical threats. Rise is an unf…

1
Inua Ellams (2018 Event) 57:13

6y ago57:13

57:13

EPIC POETIC TALENT A captivating hour with award-winning playwright and poet Inua Ellams as he performs selections from his 2017 Ted Hughes Award shortlisted work #Afterhours. His residency at the Southbank Poetry Library took him on a voyage through time and place to the heart of the library’s archive and through his own life story, selecting and …

1
Neil Griffiths & Richard Powers (2018 Event) 58:42

6y ago58:42

58:42

ALL IT TAKES IS FAITH Considered by many to be one of America’s great literary voices, National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Powers presents The Overstory, his seductive and beguiling new novel of interlocking stories. Neil Griffiths’s first book won awards, his second was shortlisted for the Costa Best Novel; today he disc…

1
Robin Robertson (2018 Event) 49:56

6y ago49:56

49:56

2018 MAN BOOKER SHORTLISTED LA NOIR A renowned poet whose work often hauntingly evokes the lives of Scottish outsiders, and a mesmerising reader of his own work, Robin Robertson strikes out with a breathtaking new project, The Long Take. In this verse novel, Walker is a war veteran from Nova Scotia who sets out for Los Angeles in 1948. Robertson’s …

1
Rachel Kushner (2018 Event) 1:00:07

6y ago1:00:07

1:00:07

LIFE AMONG LIFERS Rachel Kushner’s much-anticipated follow-up novel to the dazzlingly successful The Flamethrowers is The Mars Room, a fearless and brutally honest portrayal of Romy, a woman starting a double life sentence in a US correctional facility, leaving her young son with her mother. We welcome Kushner back to Edinburgh to discuss her lates…

1
Jo Nesbo (2018 Event) 55:43

6y ago55:43

55:43

MY BLACK AND DEEP DESIRES A former footballer, financial analyst and the lead singer of a chart-topping band in his homeland, Norway’s Jo Nesbo struck gold with the crime-writing career which has made his name. His latest bestseller, Macbeth, is a fresh take on Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish play’, relocating it to a police department where Inspector Macb…

1
Blake Morrison (2018 Event) 58:09

6y ago58:09

58:09

POETRY OF NOVEL WRITING The Sunday Times called him ‘One of our most sensitive and stylish writers’ and with his latest book, The Executor, it’s easy to see why. The bestselling novelist and poet Blake Morrison has created a biting portrait of male friendship, sexual obsession and the fragile transactions of married life, innovatively interweaving …

1
Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina with Yanis Varoufakis (2018 Event) 59:28

6y ago59:28

59:28

RUSSIA’S AVANT-GARDE FREEDOM FIGHTERS 'To back down an inch is to give up a mile,' says Maria Alyokhina in Riot Days, her account of Pussy Riot’s extraordinary rise to infamy in 2012. Following an iconoclastic balaclava-clad performance in a Moscow cathedral, Alyokhina and two of her collaborators were arrested and sentenced to two years in a priso…

1
Jasper Fforde (2018 Event) 1:02:59

6y ago1:02:59

1:02:59

NOT-SO-SWEET DREAMS Jasper Fforde has spent years on the bestseller lists with his Thursday Next books. Now he’s written a standalone novel, Early Riser, creating a world where all humans hibernate except for the Winter Consuls. Fforde’s ability to write alternative worlds with the telling detail of a J K Rowling or Terry Pratchett, coupled with hi…

1
Ruby Wax (2018 Event) 56:18

6y ago56:18

56:18

A GUIDE FOR LIVING Laughter is the best medicine, so thankfully comedian Ruby Wax has penned a witty follow-up to her bestselling book A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, designed to help us live well. Armed with a degree in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy and a knack for hilarity, today Wax discusses How to Be Human: The Manual and her tips …

1
Janice Galloway (2018 Event) 55:28

6y ago55:28

55:28

A Tribute to Muriel Spark We're celebrating Muriel Spark’s centenary year with a series of tributes to the great Scottish writer. In this, our opening event, Janice Galloway, the internationally-acclaimed Scottish author of novels, short stories, poetry and non-fiction (and more besides), presents Spark’s writing and ideas, encouraging us to ‘hear’…

1
Graeme Macrae Burnet (2018 Event) 50:42

6y ago50:42

50:42

Stravaigin in Saint-Louis The Scot who came to international attention when His Bloody Project was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Graeme Macrae Burnet has followed up that astonishing success with an elegant and evocative thriller The Accident on the A35. Set in a sleepy town in southern France, it’s a sophisticated mystery that evokes Maigr…

1
Gavin Francis (2018 Event) 56:25

6y ago56:25

56:25

TO CHANGE IS HUMAN Following the resounding success of the bestselling Adventures in Human Being, Edinburgh-based GP and writer Gavin Francis turns his attention to Shapeshifters or more specifically, the ways in which human bodies are transformed throughout a lifetime. Changes happen in many different contexts: ageing, transgender journeys and pla…

1
Antony Beevor (2018 Event) 57:13

6y ago57:13

57:13

ARNHEM: THE HEART OF WAR The nation’s premier military historian has analysed conflicts in places that proved pivotal during the Second World War such as Berlin and Stalingrad. Now he turns to Arnhem, where Britain, America and the Netherlands tried in vain to thwart the Nazis’ hopes for dominion. In Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944, Sir An…

1
Ben Okri (2018 Event) 43:45

6y ago43:45

43:45

ENIGMATIC VISIONARY Which came first, the image or the word? It’s hard to tell in The Magic Lamp, Ben Okri’s collaboration with painter Rosemary Clunie. Subtitled Dreams of Our Age, it’s a collection of twenty-five enchanting, haunting stories, each accompanied by a dreamlike painting. In this illustrated book, the Man Booker Prize-winner draws onc…

1
Miranda Kaufmann with Afua Hirsch (2018 Event) 1:01:14

6y ago1:01:14

1:01:14

Africans in Tudor England It’s a common misconception that black migration to Britain began with the Windrush in 1948. But as Miranda Kaufmann demonstrates in Black Tudors, many black Africans were warmly accepted into 16th century English society. What’s perhaps most striking is they were free – living in a Britain not yet involved in slave tradin…

1
Richard Dawkins (2018 Event) 57:11

6y ago57:11

57:11

ONE SOLUTION: EVOLUTION 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 be viewed as another religion; whether scientists can be viewed as prophets; …

1
Ruth Jones (2018 Event) 57:18

6y ago57:18

57:18

GAVIN & STACEY WRITER TURNS NOVELIST Acclaimed comedy actress and writer Ruth Jones has turned her talents to novel writing. Never Greener ponders the age-old question of whether the grass is a different shade on the other side. Kate had a fling in her early 20s with a married man and when they meet again years later, she wonders if she missed a tr…

1
Alexander Masters (2016 Event) 53:21

8y ago53:21

53:21

A Life on the Scrap Heap In 2001, almost 150 tattered notebooks were discovered in a skip in Cambridge. They were a small part of an intimate diary that began in 1952 and ended half a century later. It took Alexander Masters five years to uncover the identity and real history of their author. In A Life Discarded he shares the true, shocking and poi…

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Shirin Ebadi (2016 Event) 52:45

8y ago52:45

52:45

My Fight for Human Rights The first Muslim woman and first Iranian to win a Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi is a leading lawyer and activist who has campaigned fearlessly for freedom of speech and equality before the law in her country, despite being betrayed politically and personally, and forced into exile from Iran. She joins us to discuss Until…

1
Charles Fernyhough (2016 Event) 53:51

8y ago53:51

53:51

Voices in our Heads Two years ago, authors at the Book Festival took part in a major study into the multiple inner voices that make up human consciousness. Now, the leader of that project, psychologist Charles Fernyhough, has completed a major book on the subject, which he discusses with Richard Holloway. The Voices Within weaves human anecdotes wi…

1
David Millar (2016 Event) 56:24

8y ago56:24

56:24

Life in the Peloton Those lucky enough to witness David Millar’s spellbinding Book Festival event in 2011 will recall the athlete’s forthright admissions about calorie counting, secret doping and quirky camaraderie on the pro cycling circuit. Now he's back with The Racer, a love letter to racing and an unparalleled insight into the career of a Scot…

1
Ben Rawlence (2016 Event) 1:04:18

8y ago1:04:18

1:04:18

The World’s Largest Refugee Camp Dadaab Refugee Camp in Northern Kenya has existed for 25 years. Originally created for 90,000 Somalian refugees it now contains over 350,000 people, including 10,000 third-generation inhabitants. Over a period of four years, Ben Rawlence explored this extraordinary 'temporary' city, getting close to the realities of…

1
Nina Stibbe (2016 Event) 57:42

8y ago57:42

57:42

The Funniest Writer in Britain? Already a wildly popular author thanks to her memoir Love, Nina and bestselling debut novel, Man at the Helm, Nina Stibbe returns with Paradise Lodge. Set in a 1970s ramshackle old people's home, this lovingly created story of chaos, love and elderly people is told from the perspective of a 15 year old girl who works…

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Kenny MacAskill (2016 Event) 1:00:55

8y ago1:00:55

1:00:55

Unlocking Lockerbie In 2009, then Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill controversially granted the release on compassionate grounds of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man ever convicted for the Lockerbie Bombing in 1988. Now MacAskill has written his own account of the terrorist attack, the trial and the turmoil that has ensued. With forensic detail h…

1
Edna O'Brien (2016 Event) 54:12

8y ago54:12

54:12

One of the Greatest Irish Writers Philip Roth has called it Edna O’Brien’s masterpiece; for John Banville it’s savage, tender and true; Claire Messud describes it as arduous and beautiful. The Little Red Chairs is the work of a truly great Irish writer at the height of her powers. A decade since she wrote her last novel, O’Brien discusses an astoni…

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Kevin Barry (2016 Event) 58:53

8y ago58:53

58:53

John Lennon’s Bad Trip Kevin Barry’s Beatlebone recently won the £10,000 Goldsmiths Prize for ‘fiction at its most novel’. The phrase seems apt: even though this is a story built from familiar elements – an imagined John Lennon, post-Beatles in 1978, trying to pay a visit to an isle off the coast of Ireland that the real-life Lennon bought in the 6…

1
Alaa Al Aswany (2016 Event) 1:00:32

8y ago1:00:32

1:00:32

Egypt: A Devastating Portrait In 2002, The Yacoubian Building was an international bestseller, establishing Alaa Al Aswany as one of the Arab world’s most influential voices. Since then, Egypt has changed radically. However, Al Aswany’s new novel The Automobile Club of Egypt represents another satire on his country’s modern situation. Today he disc…

1
Packie Bonner (2016 Event) 1:02:02

8y ago1:02:02

1:02:02

The Goalkeeper Who Saved the Day The idea that footballers stay with one club throughout their career is almost laughable in these cash and ego-driven times. But Patrick ‘Packie’ Bonner was one such man, keeping goal for Celtic across three decades while making a global name for himself with a penalty save which took Ireland into the World Cup’s la…

1
Philippe Sands (2016 Event) 1:01:48

8y ago1:01:48

1:01:48

East West Street There is no lawyer quite like Philippe Sands QC. Outspoken on a range of human rights issues, from the illegality of the Iraq war to torture in the Bush administration, the Professor of Law at University College London is also a highly respected barrister who has been involved in the major human rights cases of recent times from Rw…

1
Mark Haddon (2016 Event) 59:53

8y ago59:53

59:53

Nine More Curious Incidents First he found literary acclaim with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, then he struck gold with a National Theatre play based on the bestselling book. Now, Mark Haddon turns his hand to short fiction, and today he discusses his gripping collection of nine stories, The Pier Falls, which range from the col…

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