EMINENT EGYPTIAN WRITER AHDAF SOUEIF CONFIRMS HER APPEARANCE AT THE EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL
Following concerns that Ahdaf Soueif would be unable to leave Egypt due to the current political situation, the Edinburgh International Book Festival announced today that the eminent Egyptian writer had confirmed that she will appear in person in Charlotte Square Gardens in August.
Soueif will speak on Saturday 18 August 2012 about her profoundly affecting memoir, Cairo: My City, Our Revolution, which charts her personal experiences of the uprising as it unfolded in Cairo last year. In addition she will deliver the opening address at the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference 2012-2013, one of the highlights of this year’s Book Festival. In a public discussion chaired by leading Turkish author Elif Shafak, Soueif will address whether literature should be political.
Renowned science fiction and fantasy writer, China Miéville, will deliver the final keynote speech of the Writers’ Conference, on Tuesday 21August, when he discusses the Future of the Novel in an event chaired by Janne Teller.
The Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference is an ambitious programming partnership between the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the British Council comprising of a series of discussions which will take place from 17 to 21 August stimulating a debate which will reverberate around the world. The Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference 2012-2013, inspired by the seminal 1962 Writers’ Conference in Edinburgh, will bring fifty leading Scottish and international writers together over five afternoons to discuss how writing and the imagination are an essential component of society.
Tickets to the events in the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference are available to the public, who will be encouraged to join the discussion. The Writers’ Conference events take place daily from 17to 21August from 3.00pm to 5.00pm.
Full details of the 2012 Edinburgh International Book Festival programme, and tickets to all events, can be purchased through www.edbookfest.co.uk or 0845 373 5888.
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