Would you like to try an alternative book festival? The 18th Independent Radical Book Fair begins on Wednesday 22 October 2014. Organised by Edinburgh’s own Word Power Books, the fair will feature talks, film screenings and an exhibition of photography, plus stalls run by over seventy publishers.
The Radical Book Fair will be hosted by Out of The Blue Drill Hall in Dalmeny Street, Leith.
The line-up of speakers is one that you will rarely find outside London – from the brilliant Owen Jones, journalist and author of Chavs, who will open the events with The Establishment and How They Get Away with It, to the iconic Irish writer Dervla Murphy, whose Full Tilt (the story of her solo cycle ride from Eire to Afghanistan) bowled me over as a teenager, and who is still writing today. Dervla will discuss Palestine with fellow author Raja Shehadeh. Dave Sherry will talk about his new book Empire and Revolution: a Socialist History of the First World War, and there will be a discussion about allotments and wellbeing from the authors of Raising Spirits.
Films will include Scotland Yet: A Film About Independence, and The Anarchist Rabbi. There will be workshops for schools from Tara Books’ Catriona MacIver and Oliver Mayes, and an indy cabaret with songs, poetry and music following Bella Caledonia editor Mike Small’s showcase of the best in media.
International photography collective Activestills will stage an exhibition Shooting The Occupation: The Palestinian Villages of Popular Resistance throughout the fair, and Ryan Roderick Beiler will discuss it at 6.30pm on Friday 24th.
A cafe and bar will be open every day.
In keeping with Word Power’s philosophy, all of these events are FREE, although donations would be greatly appreciated.
Doors open at 6pm on Wednesday and the fair will end on Sunday (26th October).
For more information and details of all events see Word Power or Out of the Blue websites.
