The programme is packed full of interesting sessions which you can access from home, wherever you are in the world, all online and all free.
Last night the First Minister spoke with Bernardine Evaristo and you can watch that and other sessions again.
A must see today is the 5.30pm session with main sponsors The New York Times. It is all about the New York Times Crossword which is now more than 75 years old. Gather with The New York Times’s digital crossword editor Joel Fagliano to discover in real time how a crossword is made, how the team works, and you’ll get to take part in a live mini crossword-making session. Joining him in this event is Adrienne Raphel, author of Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can’t Live Without Them. Chaired by Heather Parry.
This is a live event, with an author Q&A.
Programme for today:Â Sunday 23 August
10:00am Polly Dunbar & Michael Morpurgo – Owl or Pussycat?
To watch this event – click here
11:30am Sarah Moss: Unhappy Campers
To watch this event – click here
LIVE FROM HONG KONG
1:00pm Joshua Wong: Hong Kong’s Champion for Democracy
To watch this event – click here
2:30pm Gavin Francis & Kapka Kassabova: The Lie of the Land
To watch this event – click here
4:00pm Representation Matters with Hannah Lee & Jessica Love
To watch this event – click here
5:30pm Working with Words: Inside the New York Times Crossword
To watch this event – click here
7:00pm Anne Enright with Vicky Featherstone: Mothers and Daughters
To watch this event – click here
Here are some of the photos that John Preece has take over the years at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Tom Hamick © J.L.Preece Mariella Frostrup & Lois Pryce © J.L.Preece Naomi Wood © J.L.Preece James Coelho © J.L.Preece Jess Kidd © J.L.Preece Richard Morgan © J.L.Preece Ruth Davidson © J.L.Preece Emmanuel Iduma Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019 PHOTO John Preece Howard Jacobson Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019 PHOTO John Preece l-r Karine Polwart, Ali Smith, Nayrouz Qarmout & Val McDermid Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019 PHOTO John Preece
Programme for tomorrow:Â Monday 24 August
10:00am Alexander McCall Smith with Ruth Davidson: For the Love of Humankind
Scottish politician Ruth Davidson joins McCall Smith in the garden of his Edinburgh home for a socially-distanced chat about life, the universe and pretty much everything – including How To Raise An Elephant, the latest in his No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, The Talented Mr Varg, the second in a captivating new series featuring the world’s kindest detective, and Tiny Tales, his beautiful, eclectic new collection of short stories.
This event is sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland
Please Note this event will NOT be available On Demand
To watch this event – click here
11:30am Nadine Aisha Jassat & Tsitsi Dangarembga: Outriders Africa Following in their Footsteps
As part of the Book Festival’s Outriders programme exploring the shifting landscapes of contemporary Africa, rising star of Scottish poetry Nadine Aisha Jassat embarked on a poignant journey across the south-east of the continent with Zimbabwe-based writer and film-maker Tsitsi Dangarembga, whose 1988 debut Nervous Conditions was included in the BBC’s 2018 list of the 100 books that shaped the world. They share their unforgettable experience, and some of the writing it inspired, with researcher Kate Simpson, whose own work seeks to bring the stories of the women of Livingstone’s expeditions out from the shadows.
This is an audio event – to listen click here
1:00pm Ross Benjamin & Daniel Kehlmann: When History Prefigures Our Own Times
Despite the dark subject matter and its warning signs for the present day, Tyll is a vivid, rip-roaring comic novel about a subversive prankster. Having sold 600,000 copies in Germany, its English edition is now shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Join Kehlmann and Benjamin to take a plunge back into this wonderfully-crafted and curious alternative reality as they talk to Stuart Kelly.
This event is supported by the 2020 International Booker Prize
To watch this event – click here
2:30pm Yiyun Li: One-way Correspondence
Yiyun Li is the author of books spanning short stories, novels and memoir, and her work inspires plaudits from contemporaries including Max Porter and Meg Wolitzer. Li joins us to talk about her latest novel, Must I Go, with writer and critic Jay G Ying.
To watch this event – click here
4:00pm Kathleen Jamie, Chitra Ramaswamy & Amanda Thomson: Antlers of Water
Antlers of Water is an outstanding collection of contemporary Scottish writing about nature and landscape. In a discussion led by the BBC’s Clare English, Jamie is joined by award-winning journalist Chitra Ramaswamy as well as visual artist and writer Amanda Thomson – both contributors to the anthology – to discuss Scotland, landscape and the more-than-human world around us.
To watch this event – click here
5.30pm Billy-Ray Belcourt & Mary Jean Chan: Words Will Set You Free
Join two refreshing poets whose work shimmers with defiant beauty, in conversation with writer and critic Jay G Ying, co-founder of the Scottish BAME Writers Network.
To watch this event – click here
7.00pm Anne Applebaum: Democracy Under Siege
From the recently-converted Post-Communist states in Eastern Europe to those bastions of western liberal democracy, Britain and the USA, Applebaum analyses the rise of a nativist, authoritarian leadership style. Join her for this event, as she discusses the fractured present and tenuous future of liberal democracy with BBC special correspondent Allan Little.
This event is part of Ideas for Our Times: The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust series
To watch this event – click here
8:30pm David Eagleman: A Mind-Blowing Future
From synaesthesia to wearable neurotech devices, in this dynamic conversation Eagleman shares a collection of the most eyebrow-raising case studies from a fascinating career and awakens us to the vast potential lying dormant behind our very eyes.
This event is part of Ideas for Our Times: The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust series
To watch this event – click here
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
