Edinburgh Book Festival reveals 2016 programme
The programme for the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival has been revealed, with Jonathan Safran Foer and Stewart Lee among a host of names set for appearances.
In total, over 800 writers, poets, journalists and academics will feature at this year's Festival at Charlotte Square Gardens in the centre of Edinburgh. Comedian Stewart Lee and actor/singer Alan Cumming preview their new books at this year's Festival, while former Fall member Brix Smith-Start and Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess discuss their musical careers.
US author Jonathan Safran Foer – whose previous novel Tree of Codes was adapted as a ballet scored by Jamie xx at last year's Manchester International Festival – presents his new novel Here I Am, and Eimear McBride launches the follow-up to her acclaimed novel A Girl is a Half Formed Thing. American theatre-maker Bryan Doerries presents performance piece Theatre of War, which uses the plays of the Ancient Greeks to make sense of contemporary trauma, and theatre company Stellar Quines team up with playwright Linda McLean for the world premiere of a new adaptation of world premiere of The View from Castle Rock by Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro.
In poetry, the Book Festival programme features newly-appointed Makar Jackie Kay in conversation with Nicola Sturgeon, alongside Hollie McNish, Luke Wright and William Letford among others. Kay is one of three guest selectors presenting a series of events at this year's festival alongside GP and author Gavin Francis and journalist Bidisha, who appears in conversation with Wolfgang Bauer. Bauer went undercover to share the journey of Syrian refugees fleeing the terror of the country's civil war – read our interview with Bauer.
The Unbound strand of late-night events will return at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival; we'll have the exclusive announcement of this year's line-up later this month.
EIBF director Nick Barley describes this year's programme as "encouraging and celebrating the sort of courageous, positive, creative thinking that we desperately need in order to make the world a better place for everyone, rather than just for a privileged few."
The 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival takes place at Charlotte Square Gardens from 13-29 August; tickets for this year's festival go on sale on Tue 21 June.