Edinburgh hosts a range of festivals during the summer months, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Book Fringe. Find out what staff, students and alumni are getting up to at both these festivals in 2024. Caring For Future Generations Date and time - 10 August, 11:45am to 12:45pmVenue - EFI Venue TFestival - Edinburgh International Book FestivalFeatured LLC guest - David Farrier (Professor of Literature and the Environment)In brief - Tied together perfectly in the theme for this year’s Book Festival of Future Tense, three pioneers in the subject come together to share bold ideas. Policy expert Sophie Howe was the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, while writer, podcaster, and anthropologist Ella Saltmarshe is co-founder of the Long Time Project, which seeks to teach society how to be good ancestors. They speak with David Farrier, Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Edinburgh, whose most recent work considers the new reality of the Anthropocene. Book your ticket on the EIBF website Future Poets: Celebrating a Decade of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award Date and time - 13 August, 7:30pm to 9pmVenue - EFI Courtyard TheatreFestival - Edinburgh International Book FestivalFeatured LLC guest - Michael Pedersen (Writer in Residence)In brief - The impact of the Edwin Morgan Trust on Scotland’s vibrant poetry scene would certainly make its luminary namesake proud. Hosted by Michael Pedersen (Writer in Residence), this event celebrates ten years of supporting young and emerging Scottish poets, with readings from an exciting line-up of past winners and nominees, before announcing who will be awarded this year’s prize. Featuring performances from Nasim Rebecca Asl, Colin Bramwell, Titilayo Farukuoye, and Roseanne Watt. This event is delivered in partnership with the Edwin Morgan Trust. Book your ticket on the EIBF website Kim Sherwood: Double 0 Date and time - 16 August, 11am to 12 noonVenue - EFI Venue NWFestival - Edinburgh International Book FestivalFeatured LLC guest - Kim Sherwood (Lecturer in Creative Writing)In brief - Kim Sherwood is an award-winning novelist whose last book, 'A Wild and True Relation', was praised by Hilary Mantel. She is also the granddaughter of James Bond actor George Baker and a lifelong James Bond aficionado. She speaks to Susan Mansfield about A Spy Like Me, the second instalment in her Double 0 trilogy, which creates brand new stories set within the Bond canon. For superfans and superspies alike. Book your ticket on the EIBF website On Mother Tongues and Diaspora Literatures Date and time - 17 August, 6pmVenue - Typewronger BooksFestival - Book FringeFeatured LLC guest - Alycia Pirmohamed (PhD in Creative Writing) and Tim Tim Cheng (MSc in Creative Writing)In brief - Four celebrated authors and poets from Edinburgh and beyond - Yilin Wang, Alycia Pirmohamed, and Lesa Ng, hosted by Tim Tim Cheng - come together to read work on mother tongues and diaspora literatures.No registration is required for this event - just come along! Read more about the event on Typewronger's website Here and There Date and time - 20 August, 4pm to 5pmVenue - EFI Courtyard TheatreFestival - Edinburgh International Book FestivalFeatured LLC guest - Kim Sherwood (Lecturer in Creative Writing)In brief - Set on opposite sides of the world, Tony Birch and Zoë Strachan have both written subtle, insightful novels exploring class, womanhood, and families in the 1960s. Women & Children is Australian writer Tony Birch’s novel of loss, sisters, and courage. Meanwhile Scottish writer Zoë Strachan’s Catch the Moments as They Fly tells of a family trying to escape a shameful past. The two authors will be in conversation, chaired by Kim Sherwood. Book your ticket on the EIBF website The Wrong Person to Ask Date and time - 20 August, 6pmVenue - Typewronger BooksFestival - Book FringeFeatured LLC guest - Marjorie Lotfi (MSc in Creative Writing)In brief - Marjorie Lotfi’s award-winning debut collection is a book of two halves, each a meditation on the idea of home, both the places we start and end up in our lives. Spanning a childhood in Iran dislocated by revolution, through years as a young woman in America, to her current home in Scotland, these poems ask what it means to come from somewhere else, what we carry with us when we leave, and how we land in a new place and finally come to rest.No registration is required for this event - just come along! Read more about the event on Typewronger's website Fiction – The Long and Short of It Date and time - 24 August, 5pm to 6pmVenue - EFI Venue NWFestival - Edinburgh International Book FestivalFeatured LLC guest - Benjamin Bateman (Senior Lecturer in Post-1900 British Literature)In brief - Uncertainties and misunderstandings abound in Eley Williams’s Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good. Playfully original, each story centres around off-beat characters – people like canned laughter editors and courtroom sketch artists. Eley will be in conversation with Benjamin Bateman (fiction judge of the James Tait Black Prize – a prize Williams won back in 2017 for Attrib. and Other Stories) to discuss her enduring love for the short story form. Book your ticket on the EIBF website Words from the Wards: Michael Pedersen Date and time - 25 August, 6:15pm to 7:15pmVenue - EFI Venue CFestival - Edinburgh International Book FestivalFeatured LLC guest - Michael Pedersen (Writer in Residence)In brief - In spring 2024, the Book Festival asked people from Edinburgh to submit stories about the former Royal Infirmary building which now houses the newly-opened Edinburgh Futures Institute. The aim of this was to capture and honour the experiences and memories that people connect with the building's previous life. This event sees Michael Pedersen (Writer in Residence) host a collaborative event with local people from across Edinburgh who will perform their work and commemorate the building’s rich history. It is supported by Edinburgh Futures Institute. Book your ticket on the EIBF website Publication date 07 Aug, 2024
