The International Literature Showcase
Exceptional times call for exceptional writers. International bestselling crime novelist, journalist and Man Booker judge Val McDermid will reveal her selection of the most compelling LGBTQI+ writers working in the UK today.
Val McDermid presents...
10 August, 3pm, National Library of Scotland.
Swithun Cooper, Research and Information Manager
Although there are quite a few authors I'm excited about, especially ones I wouldn’t usually have the chance to see – Geovani Martins and Miriam Toews, for example, who are based in Brazil and Canada respectively – overall this year I’m most looking forward to Nadine Aisha Jassat, a young Scottish writer whose film-poem 'Hopscotch' was shortlisted for the Out-Spoken Prize in 2018. Having already published a pamphlet of poems, she has recently released her first full collection, Let Me Tell You This, full of vital, exciting and thought-provoking subjects. I can’t wait to finally see her live.
Walls Turned Sideways are Bridges
23 August, 7pm, Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre.
Afshan D'Souza-Lodhi, Programme Manager
Zeba Talkhani’s experiences of migrating and moving homes is one that resonates with so many, along with Guyana born Canadian Tessa McWatt, she investigates feminism through the lens of different identities.
Anatomies of Belonging
24 August, 4pm, Garden Theatre.
Harriet Williams, Programme Coordinator
I’m recommending Neu! Reekie!’s takeover of Unbound at the Spiegeltent on 24 August. Neu! Reekie! Toured Indonesia in 2016 and at this event they present some of the artists they saw there. Where else can you see a stand-up tragedian, the filmmaker of a cult classic and a poet-activist working with Indonesia’s indigenous communities, all presented with aplomb by Neu! Reekie! themselves.
Neu! Reekie! Indonesia
24 August, 9pm, Spiegeltent.
Liz Moon, Marketing Manager
This is my first Summer as an Edinburgh resident so I'm going along to a few Book Festival events. The one I'd like to recommend is Nadine Aisha Jassat, Mariam Khan and Amna Saleem discussing 'It's Not About the Burqa', an anthology I read and enjoyed earlier this year.
In the Words of Muslim Women
17 August, 7.15pm, Spark Theatre.
