All change. This year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival has a new director (say hello to Jenny Niven) and a new venue in the Edinburgh Futures Institute located in the former Royal Infirmary Hospital building in the Old Town (with other events being held in McEwan Hall and Elliott’s Studio).
With more than 500 live events between August 10 and August 25, there is no shortage of choice in this year’s programme. Such guests as Jackie Kay, David Nicholls, Fern Brady, Blindboy Boatclub, Andrew O’Hagan, Colm Toibin, Liz Lochhead, Richard Osman and Margaret Atwood will inevitably draw audiences, but there are plenty of other events that are worth exploring too. Here are 10 events that caught our eye.
Karl Geary and Tom Newlands: Growing Up, August 10, 7.15pm
I was raving about Tom Newlands’s debut novel Only Here, Only Now in these pages a couple of months ago. Set in Fife, it introduces us to Cora, one of the most indelible characters in contemporary Scottish literature. Newlands comes to the book festival to tell us more about her in the company of Irish actor-turned-author Karl Geary. Geary’s latest novel Juno Loves Legs also explores working-class lives, this time in Dublin.
Lemn Sissay: Morning Song, August 11, 10.30am
Start your Sunday with the poet Lemn Sissay and his short four-line poems as gathered together in the book Let the Light Pour In. The poems take on an extra dimension when Sissay recites them and, more than that, he is one of the most dynamic, thrilling and exuberant performers. Honestly, spending time in his company is like getting zapped with joy.
Jeremy Lee: Simply Delicious, August 12, 10.30am
There’s a strong foodie theme at this year’s Book Festival, with the chance to have lunch with chefs Asma Khan, Sami Tamimi and Rachel Roddy, as well as talks and cookery conversations from the likes of Pam Brunton and Caroline Eden. But don’t overlook the flavourful events in the general programme. Can we point you in the direction of Jeremy Lee, for example? Lee’s restaurant Quo Vadis is an institution in London’s Soho, but the chef’s origins are in Dundee. His debut book Cooking won the Andre Simon award for best food writing in 2023. No surprise. His writing has a real warmth and approachability. In Edinburgh he is in conversation with Marjorie Lotfi.
Hannah Ritchie: Hope in a Warm Climate, August 13, 12.15pm
In these troubled times some optimism might be nice for a change. So, maybe data scientist Hannah Ritchie can help out. In her new book Not the End of the World she argues that there are solutions to climate change and that a sustainable future may not just be a pipe dream. She comes to Edinburgh to discuss what might be possible.
Rose Boyt: Portrait of a Father, August 16, 12.15pm
Novelist Rose Boyt talks about her recent memoir Naked Portrait in which she discusses sitting for three paintings for her father Lucian Freud, at the ages of 18, 31 and 39. It’s a chance to discuss her complicated relationship with her dad, her often feral childhood and the relationship between artist and subject.
An Afternoon with Jenny Colgan, Spiegeltent, Friday, August 16, 3,30pm
How do you self-soothe? ASMR videos? Journaling? Listening to Debussy’s Clair de Lune on repeat? Have you tried reading Jenny Colgan’s novels?
The author who lives in a castle in Fife (now that’s a proper writer’s bio, isn’t it?) has now written more than 30 novels that are full of love and romance and food and books and a sense of optimism. There’s not much of that around these days.
Her latest, Close Knit, adds knitting to the recipe. There’s even a couple of patterns for baby knits at the end. And, yes, it is a romance novel that sticks to the formula of these things, which is, of course, the comfort and pleasure of it. But that’s not all it is. It’s also a book about the importance of community and human connection, about the possibility of new starts in life. And it’s a book about hope. That in itself is something worth celebrating. Oh yes, and it has one of the most nail-biting, page-turning climaxes you’ll read this year.
Colgan in person is just as much fun as Colgan on the page; bright, breezy and full of fun. So, this event should be on your bucket list.
Annabelle Hirsch: Pieces of a Woman, August 19, 2pm
Hirsch's latest book A History of Women in 101 Objects offers a quirky but no less potent herstory of women through time. In conversation with Amina Shah she comes to Edinburgh to take her audience from the prehistoric to the present day via the things women have used down the years.
Lone Tree, August 23, 6pm
For something different why not try this at the Spiegeltent to kick off the last weekend of the festival. Lone Tree sees composer David Paul Jones base a suite of music on the poems of Makar Kathleen Jamie. Jones himself will provide vocals, piano and electronics. And he will be joined by Fay Guiffo on violin and Justyna Jablonska on cello. Gabriel Kemp is also on hand to add to the sonics.
Es Devlin: Mapping an Artist’s Life, August 24, 7.30pm
The question is, what has Es Devlin not done? The artist and designer has been a key collaborator with the likes of Beyonce, U2, and Adele. Her stage set designs are epic and memorable (she once had Miley Cyrus slide down a giant model of her own tongue) Even operatic, you might say (yes, she has designed the odd opera). She has won a Tony Award, three Oliviers, an Ivor Novello award and her work has been seen in Tate Modern, the V&A, the Imperial War Museum and even the United Nations General Assembly. Here’s a rare chance to pull back the curtain and find out what drives her.
Graeme Macrae Burnet: Case Closed, August 25, 11.45am
And finally on the last day of the festival another ending. Graeme Macrae Burnet is in town to talk about A Case of Matricide, the third and final book in his Inspector Gorski trilogy set in sleepy small-town France. Every festival should end with a murder.
For more information and tickets, visit edbookfest.co.uk
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