13 - 29 August 2011
http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/
DAVID MILLER & DAN VYLETA
TIGHT AND TAUT TALES OF INTER-WAR EUROPE
It’s August 1924 and John Conrad arrives at his parents' home on the outskirts of Canterbury. But as guests converge, John's father (the rather famous Joseph) dies. Miller’s taut and understated debut Today is an investigation of bereavement, family and Englishness. In The Quiet Twin, Vyleta writes of 1939 Vienna with the spectre of Nazism looming amid a Rear Window-esque exploration of floating music, loneliness and neighbours’ secrets.
Wednesday 17 August
8:30pm - 9:30pm
RBS Corner Theatre
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DERMOT HEALY & JOHANNA SKIBSRUD
DELVING BENEATH THE SURFACE
Two stunning novels from opposite sides of the Atlantic: Long Time No See is the first novel in 11 years from much-admired Irish author Dermot Healy; The Sentimentalists is a debut novel by Johanna Skibsrud, and the surprise winner of this year's Giller Prize in Canada. Both tell subtle stories of relationships between children and their parents, in which memories and history continue to resonate through family relationships across several lifetimes.
Tuesday 16 August
8:30pm - 9:30pm
RBS Corner Theatre
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JOHN ALICK MACPHERSON
MEMOIRS OF A GAELIC ACTIVIST
Born and raised in Scotland, Macpherson now lives in Canada where he is widely known. He's a native Gaelic speaker who became a broadcaster, educationalist, poet and essayist, as well as the head of PR at a Canadian nuclear power plant. What's more, his literary connections are impeccable: his best friend is the 2009 winner of the Giller Prize, Linden MacIntyre. He's thrown it all into a compelling memoir. This event will be in Gaelic and English.
Saturday 13 August
4:00pm - 5:00pm
Peppers Theatre
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JONATHAN GLANCEY & JOHN VAILLANT
JOURNEYS INTO THE WILDERNESS
The Naga people of India live in one of the most remote regions on Earth. Guardian journalist Glancey has regularly travelled in Nagaland and his new book about the people and their landscape is set to be a classic of travel writing. So too is Vaillant's astonishing book about a man-eating tiger who wreaked havoc in Russia's remote Far East, and the men and dogs who tried to hunt down this terrifying, injured killer in brutally cold conditions.
Friday 26 August
7:00pm - 8:00pm
ScottishPower Studio Theatre
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEGAN ABBOTT & KATHLEEN WINTER WITH MAGGIE O'FARRELL
TEENAGERS IN TROUBLE
Salinger’s Holden Caulfield may still cast a long shadow, but two new novels explore radically different perspectives on North American adolescence today. Canadian Kathleen Winter discusses her multi award-winning Annabel – a devastating account of a hermaphrodite and his struggle to assert a female identity. US author Megan Abbott’s gripping novel The End of Everything tells a story of intense teenage desire and vulnerability, and the truths uncovered by a 13 year old girl. The event is chaired by the winner of the Costa Prize for best novel of 2010, Maggie O'Farrell.
Sunday 14 August
3:30pm - 4:30pm
ScottishPower Studio Theatre
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MICHAEL ONDAATJE
WORLDWIDE LAUNCH OF THE CAT'S TABLE
His hotly-anticipated new novel is without question his finest to date. Launched worldwide at this event, The Cat's Table tells the story of a child and his journey from Ceylon to England on an ocean liner in the 1950s. As the child grows up into the realities of adult life, he looks back on his voyage as a symbol of the floating dream of childhood. Join the man who won the 1992 Booker Prize for The English Patient, to hear about a new book that's sure to be hailed as a modern classic.
Saturday 27 August
8:00pm - 9:00pm
RBS Main Theatre
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIRIAM TOEWS & DAVID VANN
WHERE IMAGINATION AND EXPERIENCE COLLIDE
Meet two authors from across the Atlantic whose life experiences have fed directly into their novels. David Vann grew up in Alaska and his new novel Caribou Island is set in a remote Alaskan forest under the shadow of a family suicide. Meanwhile Miriam Toews, a Manitoba-born Canadian of Mennonite descent, uses her latest novel, Irma Voth to tell the story of a girl who plans to escape her reclusive Mennonite upbringing.
Tuesday 16 August
10:15am - 11:15am
Spiegeltent
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBERT BRINGHURST & DAVID HARSENT
POETS WHOSE VERSE IS CELEBRATED INTERNATIONALLY
This event features two leading poets whose verse is celebrated internationally: Margaret Atwood argued that ‘Robert Bringhurst’s achievement is gigantic’, while Fiona Sampson described David Harsent’s poetry as ‘unsurpassed’. Yet despite their acclaim, both Bringhurst and Harsent are modest about their poetry and equally recognised for their other interests: Bringhurst for his love of good typography, and Harsent for his collaborations with the composer Harrison Birtwistle. Both have a passion for other cultures and this is brought to bear, in very different ways, on the content of their poems. This promises to be a remarkable event.
Saturday 27 August
11:00am - 12:00pm
Peppers Theatre
|
