Unbelievably there is only one more day after today to be part of the Book Festival family, although the events are online for watching again.
This has been a very successful format, but there have not been any Tattoo fireworks interrupting later in the evening, and the heavy rain of last week did not cause any disruption for audiences. From the comfort of your own home you can enjoy the programme below live – today and tomorrow.
With Arundhati Roy tomorrow and winner of the Edinburgh Award, Christiania Figueres tonight, the book festival is not fizzling out by any means.
Programme for today: Sunday 30 August
10:00am Illustrate your Feelings with Dunja Jogan
To watch this event – click here
11:30am Super Scribbles and Canine Capers with Rob Biddulph
To watch this event – click here
1:00pm Masha Gessen with Philippe Sands: Facing Down President Putin
To watch this event – click here
2:30pm Allie Esiri: A Poem for Every Autumn Day
To watch this event – click here
4:00pm A Fantastical Escape with Eoin Colfer, Cressida Cowell & Kiran Millwood Hargrave
To watch this event – click here
5:30pm Andrew O’Hagan: Heydays in the Haçienda
To watch this event – click here
7:00pm Paul Mendez & Derek Owusu: Thorny Intersections
To watch this event – click here
8:30pm Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac: How We Can Survive the Climate Crisis
To watch this event – click here
Programme for tomorrow: Monday 31 August
10:00am Brain-fizzing Facts with Emily Grossman
Perfect for anyone mad about science – or even those who might need an extra nudge when it comes to STEM subjects. Emily is interviewed by author and former Blue Peter presenter, Konnie Huq.
This event is part of the Baillie Gifford Children’s Programme
To watch this event – click here
11:30am Kayus Bankole & Kei Miller: Outriders Africa from East to West
As part of the Book Festival’s Outriders programme exploring the shifting landscapes of contemporary Africa, hear from award-winning writer Kei Miller, whose barnstorming latest poetry collection, In Nearby Bushes, was tipped as one of the best books of 2019 by the Telegraph. He’s joined in this special event by writer-musician Kayus Bankole, a founding member of Edinburgh’s own Mercury Prize-winning band Young Fathers. Together they reflect on the journey they embarked on together across Ethiopia and Ghana earlier this year. Contrasting the spiritual home of the Rastafari in Ethiopia with their ancestral links to West Africa, Miller and Bankole recall the people, religious sites and music that has served as inspiration to them ever since.
This is an audio event – to listen click here
1:00pm Oliver Jeffers: What We’ll Build
Join world-renowned artist and picture book maker Oliver Jeffers as he talks about the power of storytelling through art, discussing and demonstrating his working practice in an event aimed at students and art lovers. Written and illustrated by Oliver for his young daughter, What We’ll Build is set to be another publishing masterpiece that not only showcases Oliver’s inimitable style and spectacular illustrations but also his hopes and ambitions for his own family that will, no doubt, resonate with parents everywhere.
This event is sponsored by Baillie Gifford
To watch this event – click here
2:30pm Matt Haig: The Library of Second Chances
The arrival of a new Matt Haig book is an event, and his latest novel The Midnight Library is a perfect synthesis of his imaginative flair and deep compassion. Matt Haig talks to Peggy Hughes, Programme Director for Writers’ Centre Norwich, for what promises to be an intimate and joyous conversation about regret and hope, forgiveness and honesty, cosmic libraries and the temptation of do-overs.
To watch this event – click here
4:00pm Arundhati Roy: Portal to a New World
We are thrilled to welcome back one of the world’s best-respected authors to discuss her new book of essays, Azadi. In the light of the COVID-19 outbreak, freedom has, Roy says, taken on another meaning and in a new book of essays she invites us to see the pandemic as a portal between one world and another. Here, she argues, is our opportunity to imagine a better future.
This event is presented in association with the Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh
To watch this event – click here
5:30pm Scottish BAME Writers Network Showcase: Scotland’s Heritage, Then and Now
Join Saltire Poetry Book of the Year winner Janette Ayachi, Scottish Voice for 2020 playwright and poet Hannah Lavery, performance poet Courtney Stoddart, and poet and lecturer at the University of Dundee Heather H. Yeung for a special showcase and discussion celebrating the diversity of contemporary Scottish verse. Chaired by Andrés N Ordorica. Supported by the Scottish BAME Writers Network.
To watch this event – click here
7.00pm Edwin Morgan: A Centenary Celebration of Scotland’s Great Poet
Over the ten years since his death, Morgan’s influence, far from waning, has become even greater. This year he would have been 100 years old. In this celebration of Morgan’s life and work we gather together some of Scotland’s writers and poets who continue to draw inspiration from his ideas. Through music, readings and reflections on Morgan’s life, this event invites you on a beautiful journey into the mind of a Scottish poetic genius. Join Samuel Tongue, Juana Adcock, Keith Jarrett and James McGonigal in this celebration of Morgan’s life and work.
To watch this event – click here
8:30pm Closing Night: A Case For Hope
In this special Edinburgh International Book Festival closing event, guests including author, playwright and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga, writer and translator Lina Mounzer and musician Heir of the Cursed make the argument for how we can look forward, sharing their visions and their wildest prescriptions for a better future and offering a Case for Hope.
To watch this event – click here
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
