The Writing Business
Poetry
I am just a woman of the shore
There will also be a series of three very special National Library of Scotland events to celebrate and honour three of Scotland's great men of letters - Hugh McDiarmid, George Mackay Brown and Ian Crichton Smith.
Travel and Biography
I stand and wonder at the lengths to which I will go to foster my dream - travelling is like flirting with life." Diana Souhami marooned herself on a desert island, in order to write with first hand knowledge about Robinson Crusoe, the novel based on the true life of Scottish sailor, Alexander Selkirk. Juliet Barker will talk about her research into the lives of the Bronte sisters and of William Wordsworth.
Drama and Comedy
Scottish and Irish writers will be represented each morning with a delightful bright start to the day, at "Celtic Writers for Breakfast". At 10.30 am in the Spiegeltent, with coffee and croissants available, you can listen to a diverse blend of writers, poets and novelists, including Douglas Dunn, A. L. Kennedy, Janice Galloway, Bernard MacLaverty, Joseph O'Connor, Patrick McCabe Christopher Whyte, Maggie Graham, Candia McWilliam, and Anne Enright.
For visitors who are themselves budding writers, there is a series of practical workshops on writing techniques with tips on how to get published. There will be a Writer in Residence, Tom Pow, leading a creative writing group on selected days giving advice and information on writing skills.
The cream of Scottish poets and many others will be present at the Festival, including the Poet Laureate of Glasgow, the renowned Edwin Morgan, Carol Ann Duffy, Robert Crawford, Jackie Kay, Liz Lochhead and Kathleen Jamie.
Perfect Day by Kathleen Jamie
wearing your coat against the snow
that falls on the oyster-catchers` tracks
and on our own; falls
on the still grey waters
of Loch Morar, and on our shoulders
gentle as restraint: a perfect weight
of snow as tree-boughs
and fences bear against a loaded sky:
one flake more, they'd break.
From the experience of real lives, many leading writers and adventurers, historians and biographers will talk about the research and experience behind their work. Highlights include Lisa St. Aubyn de Teran on her life-long passionate love affair with travelling, with Italy, and long train journeys.
"I would like to say that I was born on the Orient Express as my mother took her bi-monthly trip to Istanbul or that I was smuggled out of China as a tiny baby - However I was born in Kensington, London in 1953....
There will be entertaining talks and readings about Shakespeare and Dario Fo. Actors Stephen Berkoff and Susannah York will be discussing their world of theatre and performance. The inimitable Clive James, critic, humorist and TV presenter, will talk about his new collection of essays, "Even as We Speak."
This is just a selection of the rich variety of language, culture and imagination which will be celebrated and shared this year in Charlotte Square garden. With free admission to the garden itself and the bookshop tents, visitors can browse about, sit with a coffee or glass of wine and soak up the relaxed ambience as writers and their readers wander around in between the readings, conversations and discussions.
"There is an intimacy here, an atmosphere in which words hang and swoop and the barrier between writer and reader becomes tissue thin."
The Scotsman."Whether under cloudy skies or in the late afternoon sunlight, the buzz at the Edinburgh Book Festival resoundingly confirmed what book festival goers already know. The intellectual ambition of everyday people has been vastly underestimated by the culture at large..." The Los Angeles Times.
