Revolution of Ideas
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The Edinburgh International Book Festival opened on the 13th August and will run until the 29th August. During this time, festival goers will have the chance to hear some of the world’s most influential writers speaking on a broad range of topics in readings, speeches, debates and workshops. Through all these events runs a thread of revolution and change, a key idea in this year’s Festival.
Writers have come from all over the world to speak about the way our societies are affected by their revolutionary pasts and what modern revolutions will do for their future. The revolutions discussed will not only be political: rapid changes in economic, artistic and technological fields will also be examined, as well as the key concepts that speakers believe will rise to the fore to define the next century.
The level of talent and quality of discussion that can be expected in the more than 700 events on offer this year is clear from an examination of even a small segment of the program. The Festival has invited several guests to select and chair events around particular themes. BBC Radio 4 presenter and former foreign correspondent Allan Little will be presenting the keynote events most pertinent to the Arab Spring and related movements, featuring authors whose works seek to define, explain and even develop recent events. The diverse list of Little’s guests includes Libyan novelist and essayist Hisham Matar, Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie and Guardian correspondent for Pakistan and Afghanistan Declan Walsh.
Little will also examine the chances of a future uprising in China with Beijing-based dystopian novelist Chan Koonchung, Chinese public intellectual and author Wang Hui, and Bristol University’s Sino-British relations history expert Robert Birchers. This series of talks will end with a debate on the future of democracy with Palestinian poet and political scientist Tamim Barghouti, and Anglo-Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif and independent filmmaker Omar Robert Hamilton, founder and producer of the Palestine Festival of Literature, respectively.
Audrey Niffenger, author of The Time Traveller’s Wife, will be hosting three talks with authors whose works have broken down borders between genres and styles, flouting expectations to create critically acclaimed and challenging work.
Journalist Joan Bakewell’s selection examines the key ideas of the 21st century. Three themed discussions will cover creativity, landscape and numbers, and will be followed in the series by two debates about the place in our future for faith and doubt, and the role of the city. Newly appointed Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson’s chosen theme is How Children Learn, and she will chair a number of discussions on the methods we use to teach and learn, as well as provide examples in workshops for young and old.
With such a strong and diverse line-up of writers, lead by experts of the inquisitive, this year’s Book Festival promises to offer an energetic and inspiring perspective on the past, present and future of our societies.
