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Scotsman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh International Book Festival: Highlights for Children & Young Adults
As well as the usual line-up of children's writers, this year's EIBF will also have a dedicated Young Adult strand, writes Susan Mansfield Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... This year, the Book Festival has a dedicated programme of events for Young Adults for the first time, including a YA takeover of the Spiegeltent on 11 August promising a day of events, discussions and workshops aimed at teenagers hosted by writer Cynthia Murphy. Some of the most exciting YA writers in the world will be guests at the festival, including Alice Oseman, creator of the smash-hit graphic novel series Heartstoppers. On the series' tenth anniversary, she will talk about where it all began for Charlie and Nick (17 August). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Molly X Chang will talk about her epic romantasy The Nightblood Prince, inspired by Chinese myth, about a reckless princess who forms a bond with a runaway prince who commands an army of vampires (15 August). Rebecca F Kuang Japanese novelist Asako Yuzuki is in both the adult and the YA programmes with her word-of-mouth sensation Butter, about a chef turned serial killer who poisons her lovers (23 August), as is bestselling American novelist RF Kuang, author of Yellowface, whose new novel Katabasis is a story of two magical PhD students who band together to rescue the soul of their academic adviser from hell (24 August). Another author taking part in both sections is Scottish writer Kirsty Logan, with a new collection of short stories, No & Other Love Stories, about female desire down the centuries from a medieval monastery to a 1990s high school (22 August). Writer, activist and model Monroe Bergdorf is to speak to young people about the thorny question of truth as it relates to a range of topics from beauty standards to cancel culture (21 August). The festival promises additional facilities for children and families this year, and a wide-ranging programme for readers of all ages, from the tenth birthday celebrations for Ross Collins' There's A Bear on my Chair (10 August), to Michael Rosen's introduction to Shakespeare for older children (23 August). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Jacqueline Wilson is such an enduring and well-loved figure in children's literature that some of her fans now have children of their own. She will be at the Book Festival for a special event looking at her life as a writer with a back catalogue of more than 100 books (24 August). Cressida Cowell Cressida Cowell will read from How to Train Your Dragon School, the latest book in her enormously popular series (22 August). AF Steadman promises a new story in the blockbuster Skandar series, with curses, bloodthirsty unicorns, epic adventures and unlikely heroes (11 August). Dr Lucia Perez-Dias will explore how the world repairs itself, and how we can help, taking young readers on an epic journey through time and space to witness what the planet was like, why it changed, and what the future holds (9 August). Polly Faber openes up the surprisingly fascinating subject of recycling, looking at what happens to the things we throw away (10 August).
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Sami Tamimi: 'Food is a wonderful way of sharing heritage'
Ottolenghi co-founder Sami Tamimi will share stories and flavours from Palestine at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival, writes Gaby Soutar Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... This won't be London-based author, chef and restaurateur Sami Tamimi's first time at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The Ottolenghi co-founder visited last year, and had a brilliant experience. 'I love Edinburgh. I've been a few times,' he says. 'It's wonderful to be around so many talented people.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In 2024, he was discussing his last cookbook, Falastin, which was co-authored by Tara Wigley, and talking about food as an expression of community, resistance and celebration. However, on this trip he'll be sharing the beautiful Boustany. This vibrant new release, with a name that translates from Arabic as 'my garden', showcases the colourful vegetable-based dishes of Palestine and is his first solo book. Sami Tamimi PIC: Ostaszewska Smit As part of the EIBF's How to Live a Meaningful Life theme, he'll be headlining the programme's Jenny Lau, Chitra Ramaswamy and Sami Tamimi: Food and Home event on 17 August, from 10:15am to 11:15am. Later on the same day, if you want to taste his recipes, he'll also be involved in a Table Talks session, Have Lunch with Sami Tamimi, from 1pm until 4pm at Elliott's Studio. We don't know yet what will be cooking. It could be anything from his book, which features over 100 recipes. The options might include pickles, like baby aubergine, and condiments such as sumac onions; soups, salads, breads, breakfast dishes including broad bean falafel; small plates and spreads of crushed butter beans with orange, makdous and mint; salads such as a fridge-raid fattoush and a load of gorgeous desserts. We like the sound of labneh and pomegranate ice-cream. 'There's a mother inside of me that wants to feed people. I always say, what's the point of cooking when nobody's enjoying it? That's part of the whole Palestinian tradition where people are always welcome and it's an open house,' says Tamimi, who grew up in Jerusalem. 'They cook more than they need because they don't want to end up in a situation where somebody is dropping by and they can't eat, and it's a wonderful thing. It's about caring for people, making sure that they are well fed and welcomed.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Although the book's bounty is lush and every dish is like a jigsaw piece in a vast feast, it was conceived during a fallow period for Tamimi. He's a self-confessed workaholic, and had what he describes in the book as a 'mini meltdown' back in 2020, after he and his partner were sequestered at their Umbria home during lockdown. Just before this, he had been running six kitchens, and was recovering from a serious heart operation. As always, he turned to cooking as a therapy, but also rediscovered foraging in Italy. 'This is something we did in Palestine, and it's a kind of ritual,' he says. "I was fortunate enough to be able to forage for things that I remember from childhood and it's a lovely connection to the land. I always think that people that have a garden and grow their own vegetables, it's such a wonderful experience and you're connected to what you eat. It's not just something you buy in the shop.' Without his hectic job – he was then working as executive chef across the Ottolenghi group – there was time to think, and reminisce, about his childhood and his grandparents' house in Hebron, and the dishes they'd make him. There is one option in particular that makes him feel nostalgic. 'I call it Palestinian egg and chips. It's really such a simple dish in the book,' he says. 'I have so many memories of being at my grandfather's house, where everybody would sit around and enjoy this. They had their own chickens, so they had fresh eggs. Potatoes were always from the boustan. So they did it in a big pan, then shared it with a little cheese and greens. Every time I eat it, it transports me back to my childhood.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As he thought about these dishes, more seeds were planted for the book, and the result is 'a tribute to the beauty of culinary exploration and the profound impact it can have on our lives'. Those who are new to Tamimi's cooking might want to start with his 'easy' recommendation of cardamom pancakes with tahini, halva and carob. For the more advanced, there's the Jerusalem sesame bread nests, or ka'ak. 'They're really nice to do with kids, because you do the dough and then add the egg. It's a fun thing. And they look really cute. I've taken them a couple of times to picnics, and people love them because they don't just look cute, but also they're quite tasty,' he says. These seed-speckled rolls are usually sold with a hard-boiled egg, and a sachet of za'atar and salt, on the streets of Jerusalem. In the book, Tamimi describes buying them as an 'experience that encapsulates the essence of tradition and local flavours'. Tamimi, who moved to London in 1997, has siblings who still live in that city. He worries about them, though he says they've almost become inured to what's happening. It seems more urgent than ever for this author to share his heritage. At this point, he hasn't been back to his late grandparents' house in Hebron and maybe never will. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I didn't want to go back, because I thought all my beautiful memories would vanish. I regret not going before, but the house is still there, though the garden isn't,' he says. He's open to talking about the situation. The audience and panel at last year's EIBF event were keen to know what his favourite recipes were, but also what it's like to be a Palestinian today. 'I've been quietly campaigning, about the importance of keeping the cuisine, culture and heritage alive, by talking about it and showcasing and sharing. I started a little bit in Jerusalem, but more so in Falastin, and now in Boustany,' he says, in reference to a couple of his co-authored books. 'I think we all connect to food, and we all love to eat and cook, and it's a wonderful way of sharing heritage. People can cook and feel connected and they also want to know more about the history of the dish. We see how absolutely horrific what's happening is at the moment in Gaza and the rest of Palestine, and it makes it even more important to talk about that and keep talking. For me, it's a mission.'
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh International Book Festival: Music, Poetry and Performance Highlights
Music and words collide in a variety of interesting ways at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival, writes Fiona Shepherd Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... As one might expect, the Music, Poetry and Performance strand of the EIBF is a broad church, but common threads emerge. Colin Greenwood, Radiohead's archetypally quiet bassist, offers an insider perspective on the revered band in How To Disappear (16 August). Stuart Murdoch, frontman of cult favourites Belle & Sebastian, talks about fictionalising his early experiences of faith, ME and songwriting in Late Developer (23 August). Music producer Joe Boyd has long been a witness to music history and discusses his personal history of global music, And The Roots of Rhythm Remain (22 August). Closer to home, Carrie Marshall and Gary West compare notes on Scotland's queer musical trailblazers and piper Martyn Bennett in God Save The Scene (11 August), while Marshall joins broadcaster Nicola Meighan, musician Emma Pollock, theatremaker Cora Bissett and writer Chitra Ramaswamy for 1995: Grrrls Aloud (10 August), a celebration of Nineties girl power, with live music from Cariss Crosbie. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Malachy Tallack PIC: Craig Colahan Music and words also collide in the annual Stress Test – Live (11 August), where poets and musicians have 15 minutes to collaborate on a song. The following day, Malachy Tallack and band bring to life songs written by Jack, the protagonist of Tallack's novel The Beautiful Atlantic Waltz (12 August). Cellist Simone Seales accompanies her own poems, read by Mele Broomes (13 August), and harpist Esther Swift presents her musical settings of Jackie Kay's poetry in The Heartstrings of Poetry (15 August). Writer Angus Peter Campbell is joined by his musician daughters Brighde, Ciorstaidh and Steaphanaidh Campbell for a further fusion of poetry and traditional music in Rhymes and Reels (18 August) and poet Harry Josephine Giles and piper Malin Lewis present their collaboration Unco (14 August). Esther Swift Scotland's new Makar Peter Mackay showcases a range of Scottish poets writing in English, Gaelic, Polish and Arabic in Our Mother Tongues (11 August), while Edinburgh's Makar Michael Pedersen appears in cosmic collaboration with poet Hollie McNish, wildlife photographer Gordon Buchanan and musician Lomond Campbell at Dynamic Earth (11 August) and in his own Meeting One's Makar event (12 August). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Michael Pedersen Colin Bramwell, Iona Lee and Leyla Josephine resurrect the ancient Scots art of flyting – the rap battle of its day – for Flyte Night 2025 (20 August), and 12 poets compete for a £3,000 prize in the Loud Poets Grand Slam Final (9 August), while the non-competitive can take their chance at Rock the Boat: Open Mic Poetry (20 August). Leyla Josephine If you are looking for a quieter, more sobering environment, war correspondent Lindsey Hilsum looks at the solace of poetry in wartime in Poetry As An Act of Witness (15 August) and Palestinian-American poet Fady Joudah (17 August) and contemporary Arab poet Najwan Darwish (10 August) both respond with mixed emotions to their homeland.
Scotsman
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Watch: Scotland's Travelling Bookbinder shows off skills ahead of Edinburgh book festival appearance
This video More videos The workshop at the Edinburgh International Book Festival will take place on Saturday, August 16. Keep up with the latest new videos with the Shots! Newsletter. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A bookbinder has shown off her craft ahead of a series of workshops at the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF). Based between Edinburgh and the Hebridean island of Iona, Rachel Hazell, known as The Travelling Bookbinder, has been conducting workshops for nearly 30 years. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Her portfolio includes sessions on expedition ships in Antarctica, bespoke one-to-one courses, and running small groups in Paris, Venice and Amsterdam, in historic libraries, corporate workshops and at other literary festivals. Ms Hazell said: 'There's something beautifully symbolic about returning to Edinburgh – the city where I fell in love with literature – for a festival themed around 'Repair', because bookbinding has always been about more than just craft for me. 'It's about connection, making sense and the satisfaction of creating something lasting with your hands. When people make their first book, they're not just learning a craft – they're connecting with centuries of human knowledge and our fundamental love of stories. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'There's something deeply grounding in that. Edinburgh holds such literary significance and EIBF brings together people who are passionate about the positive power of books and I can't wait to share this iconic craft with its audiences.' Rachel Hazell will give workshops on bookbinding at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. | Rachel Hazell Ms Hazell's workshops will embody the book festival's 2025's exploration of Repair. Through the meditative practice of bookbinding, participants will explore how traditional craft techniques can serve as both creative outlet and metaphor for mending what needs healing in life.
Scotsman
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh International Book Festival: Non-fiction Highlights
The theme of repair is explored from many different angles in the non-fiction strand of this year's EIBF, writes Susan Mansfield Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A broad, deep river of fascinating non-fiction runs through the Book Festival programme from day to day, which seems an appropriate metaphor because one of the highly anticipated visitors is Robert Macfarlane, with his new book, Is A River Alive? (9 August). In addition to this solo event, he will join Louise Welsh, who has campaigned for the Clyde to be granted personhood, and barrister Monica Feria-Tinta, to talk about how seeing landscape differently might help to preserve it (10 August). Robert Macfarlane PIC: William Waterworth These events are part of the strand of the programme responding to the theme of repair, which is explored from many angles. William Dalrymple and his fellow podcaster Anita Anand look at looted artefacts, the journeys they have taken and the possibilities of repatriation (13 August). Philippe Sands QC talks about working on the prosecution of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (10, 11 August). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Naga Munchetty calls out at misogyny in the health service, and the struggles women face accessing treatment (23 August), Poppy Oktcha and Kathy Slack explore the reparative powers of gardening (10 August) and Hanif Kureishi tells a very personal story of repair following the catastrophic fall which left him paralysed (15 August). Hanif Kureshi He is just one of a rich crop of writers bringing their memoirs to the Book Festival. Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will unveil her hotly anticipated book (14 August), and fellow politicians Diane Abbott (21 August) and Chris Bryant (20 August) lift the veil on Westminster and their own lives. Veteran activist, journalist and filmmaker Tariq Ali talks about his memoir, You Can't Please All (13 August), tracing some of the key moments in recent history which he has witnessed in his 81 years. Yulia Navalnaya visits the festival to speak about her late husband Alexei Navalny, Russia's opposition leader, whose prison memoir was published after his death in a Russian jail in 2024 (22 August). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Yulia Navalnaya Leading Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov details the experience of living in a country at war in his memoir, Our Daily War (19 August), and leading Chinese-American novelist Yiyun Li brings a grief memoir like no other, a book in which she processes the suicides of her two teenage sons (10 August). The festival offers many opportunities to pick up insights on world events. Pulitzer-winning journalist Anne Applebaum joins Edward Wong, diplomatic correspondent of the New York Times, to discuss reporting from the frontline of Donald Trump's second term (17 August). Leading commentator on race, Ta-Nehisi Coates, talks about his new book, The Message, which explores race relations around the world and questions the messages we tell ourselves (16 August). Closer to home, former First Minister of Scotland Henry McLeish and James Mitchell, director of the Academy of Government at the University of Edinburgh, reflect on the years since devolution, the achievements and challenges (18 August), and Alistair Moffat presents his new book, To See Ourselves: A Personal History of Scotland since 1950, rich with personal recollections (19 August).
