Forward Prize nominees appearing at Book Festival

Four of the six poets on the shortlist for The Forward Prize for Best Collection, announced this week, will be appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this summer.  Although tickets for Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney have sold out, tickets to hear Robin Robertson, Jo Shapcott and Sinéad Morrissey are all still available.

Don Paterson, the internationally renowned Scottish poet, has worked with the Scottish Poetry Library to select some world renowned poets for the programme, including Simon Armitage and Pulitzer winner Paul Muldoon, plus, of course, the four Forward prize nominees.

Ruth Padel, who chairs the judging panel for The Forward Prize, will also be appearing at the Book Festival and has selected a series of events looking at family relationships.  She will be in conversation with Lyndall Gordon exploring the tensions within Emily Dickinson’s family, and with Fatima Bhutto and Fay Weldon who share the way in which a parent’s loss affected their understanding of the world.  John Burnside and David Vann discuss sons’ relationships with their troubled fathers.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival runs from 14 to 30 August in the beautiful Charlotte Square Gardens in the heart of the city, and this year welcomes over 750 writers, poets, politicians, artists, photographers and journalists from 50 countries around the world.  With Nobel Laureates, Booker, Costa, Pulitzer and Turner Prize Winners, Poets Laureate and over 40 debut authors, the Festival provides an opportunity for audiences to engage with the world’s leading authors, thinkers and opinion formers.