Some novel suggestions from a reimagined programme
◆ David Robinson persuades new Book Festival director Jenny Niven to reveal her highlights
There’s a battery of questions any Edinburgh International Book Festival director both loves and hates: What’s the best thing this year? Who’s unmissable? Which is the ONE event I should see?
At which point the director can be expected to pull a face which should somehow indicate a whole variety of answers – “How can you possibly expect me to pick just one from the 600-plus events I’ve already chosen?” being the most prominent – give an encouraging smile and point out the way to the box office.
In her first year as its director, and the festival’s first year in its new home at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, Jenny Niven will do a bit more than this. At 10am today, she will take to the stage of the Spiegeltent (it’s so good to see it back) and talk about her programme in depth.
That’s just one of the smaller innovations she has made, and it’s a welcome one. The thought process behind programming is easy to overlook: most of us, I suspect, are just drawn to a particular author or topic, and book tickets across the festival’s various strands regardless. It’s good to see the bigger picture.
Despite the difficulty of the question, I asked Niven to pick out five events she was particularly looking forward to – and added a few of my own, too.
Perambulations Of A Justified Sinner. Monday’s event includes the live staging of a pivotal scene, but the experimental immersive video tour based on Hogg’s novel is available to everyone for just £7 for the duration of the festival. The otherwise excellent printed programme doesn’t make the most of what sounds like a fascinating hybrid project created by Grid Iron Theatre Company’s Ben Harrison (music by Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, script by Louise Welsh) which – provided your mobile phone is up to it – will lead you on what sounds like a rather magical tour of the Old Town.
Sophie Howe and Ella Saltmarshe (today, 11:45am). “Two brilliant thinkers on how to reshape policy and society to make things better for the generations after us,” says Niven, and indeed now that Howe is no longer Wales’ (and the world’s) first Future Generations Commissioner, perhaps she can spell out more bluntly how to get politicians to think for the longer term. How long? As Saltmarshe has pointed out, the lives of the 6.75 trillion human beings who could be expected to live on our planet over the next 50,000 years depend on what we do right now. Gulp. My choice: John Vaillant (25 August, 10.30am), for a particularly deadly example of how climate change is already affecting us.
Sadiq Khan (17 August, 7:15pm). A late addition to the programme of politicians and political thinkers which, as Niven points out, already includes Jess Phillips, Caroline Lucas, Alasdair Campbell, Andy Burnham and Angus Robertson. My choice: Andrew O’hagan (21 August, 1.45pm); there’s no better novelist about life in contemporary (well, 2022) London. Adrian Tchaikovsky
(13 August, 8:30pm). “He’s a giant of sci-fi writing. We’re thrilled to have him,” says Niven, “and glad to be profiling some terrific scifi and speculative fiction alongside the wonderful literary and crime the festival is loved for.” I’m not a scifi guy, but i do like the historical genre, so put me down for Robert Harris (25 August, 6.45pm).
Natalie Diaz (17 August, 6.45pm). “She is one of the most exciting poets working in America today,” says Niven, “and definitely not to be missed for poetry fans and those looking for a completely different take on the contemporary US”. No doubt – and certainly Diaz will be the only Mohave American Pulitzer prizewinning former professional basketball player at Niven’s festival. Also check out Jen Hadfield, Amy Liptrot and Roseanne Watt (13 August, 1.45pm).
Which event is unmissable depends on what your own interests are. But as Niven pulls up the curtain on a festival that she and her team have so thoughtfully reimagined, the next fortnight’s events at the building many of us still think of as the old Royal Infirmary is comprehensive enough to cater for pretty much everybody.
Edinburgh International Book Festival runs from today until 25 August. Find the full programme and ticket details at www. edbookfest.co.uk