FORMER Tory Party leadership contender Rory Stewart discusses what Brexit Britain can learn from the world of literature in one of four new events announced for this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Comedian James Acaster introduces his hotly-anticipated memoir in one of the others and the Festival will also celebrate the life and work of The Tiger Who Came To Tea writer and illustrator Judith Kerr, Kerr passed away earlier this year.
Meanwhile, in a special event in partnership with BBC Radio 2’s Book Club, a panel including Alexander McCall Smith and Kit de Waal discuss The Novels that Shaped Our World.
Stewart will take part in a discussion with Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins on Monday, August 26, at 5pm.
Acaster, nominated five times for the Edinburgh Comedy Award, will discuss his memoir, Perfect Sound Whatever, at a late-night event at 10pm on Wednesday, August 21.
Author and critic Daniel Hahn will be joined by literary agent Lindsey Fraser and illustrators Eilidh Muldoon, Catherine Rayner, Tom Morgan-Jones and Kate Leiper to pay tribute to Kerr on Tuesday, August 20, at 4pm. To mark the 300th anniversary of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, a new BBC television series to be broadcast this autumn will explore The Novels that Shaped Our World.
Ahead of the series, BBC Radio 2’s Book Club will be asking guests to discuss their favourite. Stig Abell, journalist and editor of the Times Literary Supplement, will be joined by McCall Smith and Kit de Waal in a special event chaired by producer and radio presenter Joe Haddow on Friday, August 9, at 11.30am.
Tickets are available via edbookfest.co.uk, 0345 373 5888 or the Box Office at The Hub, Castlehill.
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