The Edinburgh International Book Festival return to Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square for another innovative, inclusive and entertaining celebration of words, books, art, science, sport and music. As always it brings contributors from around the world to join the party and inspire the debate. This year free speech, freedom of movement, freedom of expression and freedom of identity will all be discussed in a diverse and wide-ranging programme of talks, debates, workshops and readings taking place in Charlotte Square Gardens and in George Street in August.
The Freedom Papers examine LGBTQ+, race, religion, immigration, disability, education and technology, some are polemic, some are fictional narratives, some are poems and two are illustrations. will be published in a special supplement to Gutter magazine in July and provide rich material for a series of debates in August.
“The Book Festival in Edinburgh is an unbeatable place for meeting inspiring people and sharing big ideas.” said Nick Barley, Director of the Book Festival. “This year’s programme brings together writers whose experiences will truly change our way of looking at the world: from the emerging Rwandan-Burundian superstar Gaël Faye to the legend of Kenyan writing Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, this is the most international of festival programmes – but one that also proudly celebrates its Scottish history and context.”
Kenyan novelist and playwright Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o returns to Edinburgh his prison memoir Wrestling with the Devil. Grandfather of Norwegian Literature Dag Solstad returns after a six-year absence, Karl Ove Knausgaard launches the final element of his My Struggle series, The End, and comedian Susan Calman previews her brand-new book The Kindness Quest: Dancing for Joy. Continuing the Mind and Body strand, actor Greg Wise tells the moving and thought-provoking story of his relationship with his sister as she dies of cancer, Susie Orbach discusses the growing popularity of therapy, Matt Haig is in conversation with Richard Holloway on anxiety and Ruby Wax returns with How to be Human: The Manual.
Adele Patrick, the Lifelong Learning and Creative Development Manager at Glasgow Women’s Library, is a passionate and active advocate for creating a more inclusive society. For her selected series Revolting Women, Patrick will curate events exploring the militant and maverick female writers of the last 100 years.
Iranian artist Ehsan Abdollahi hit the headlines after the UK refused him a visa to visit the Book Festival last year, a decision that was eventually overturned after a campaign of protest. He returns in 2018 as the Illustrator in Residence offering a celebration of visual storytelling, including a discussion with the award-winning African-American poet Eloise Greenfield. He also joins an international line-up for The Freedom Finale on the last day of the Festival.
Best-selling Canadian novelist Miriam Toews launches Women Talking, Scotland’s own Ali Smith is in conversation with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and US visitors include Rachel Kushner, Richard Powers and Chelsea Clinton Other world-renowned authors writing for young people include Philip Pullman, Judith Kerr, David Walliams, Chris Hoy, Cressida Cowell, Julia Donaldson and Harry Hill.
2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Muriel Spark and in celebration the Book Festival’s expansion onto the west end of George Street will this year include the new Spark Theatre, as well as a major series of events celebrating the life and work of this extraordinary writer. Doctors of Philosophy, Spark’s only work written specifically for the stage, will be presented in its entirety as a one-off rehearsed reading, edited by the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh’s Artistic Director David Greig and directed by Marilyn Imrie.
The Book Festival’s collaboration with The Lyceum continues through the Playing with Books strand of events featuring special one-off performances exploring three of the most interesting books of recent years: Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel The One Hundred Nights of Hero; Mexican superstar Yuri Herrera and his noir classic Signs Preceding the End of the World; and Scotland’s own literary leading light Ali Smith with her much-loved How to Be Both. In partnership with acclaimed Glasgow-based theatre company Visible Fictions, audiences can enjoy solving the mystery in The Hidden, an immersive theatrical performance in Edinburgh’s Central Library which runs daily throughout the Festival.
In the Book Festival’s first digital event, The Right Kind of Chaos is a unique book combining digital technology with innovative storytelling via WhatsApp.
Speakers from the world of sport include cyclists Mark Beaumont and Graeme Obree, triathlete Louise Minchin and footballer Tony Adams. Musicians include Suede’s Brett Anderson, Viv Albertine of The Slits and Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson. Legendary guitarist Brian May, who together with photographic historian Professor Roger Taylor, examines the work of Scottish photography pioneer George Washington Wilson in a unique 3D presentation – another Festival first. The Babble On strand, co-curated by Luke Wright and Becky Finch, welcomes exponents of the art of spoken word as diverse as Claire Askew, Inua Ellams, and Murray Lachlan Young.
This year the Book Festival also celebrates partnerships and collaborations. Actor Jim Broadbent has created his first graphic novel with illustrator Dix; Michael Morpurgo and French graphic novelist Barroux met at the Book Festival in 2013 and return in August with a new joint venture and Chris Brookmyre and his wife Marisa Haetzman launch their new crime novel under the pen name Ambrose Parry. Ann Cleeves brings the final instalment of her Shetland series and will be joined on stage by actor Douglas Henshall who plays detective Jimmy Perez in the BBC Series.
As part of Year of Young People, the Edinburgh International Book Festival has invited young people from schools in Craigmillar in Edinburgh to co-design a strand of events in the 2018 Book Festival programme exploring the concept of Freedom.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival his year welcomes over 900 participants from 55 different countries to its tented village in the heart of Edinburgh and runs from Saturday 11 to Monday 27 August 2018. Entrance to the Gardens is FREE and the gardens, cafes, bookshops and all venues are fully accessible. Full details of the programme can be found at www.edbookfest.co.uk. Tickets to all events go on sale at 8.30am on Tuesday 26 June 2018, online at www.edbookfest.co.uk, by phone on 0345 373 5888 or in person at the Box Office at the The Hub, Castlehill.