The Edinburgh International Book Festival today announced the delegates who will attend sessions in the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference this August.
The ambitious, global event will bring together fifty delegates from 25 different countries, with a public discussion about the role of fiction in society.
The schedule
Each day, the conference will discuss a different topic originally tabled at the seminal 1962 Edinburgh Writers’ Conference, in front of an audience who will then be invited to join the debate.
- Friday 17 August: eminent Egyptian writer, Ahdaf Soueif will ask Should Literature Be Political? in a session chaired by leading Turkish author, Elif Shafak.
- Saturday 18 August: Ali Smith will address Style vs Content in an event chaired by American writer Nathan Englander
- Sunday 19 August: Scotland’s own Irvine Welsh will discuss whether there should be A National Literature? with Ian Rankin.
- Monday 20 August: Patrick Ness will tackle Censorship Today and freedom of speech moderated by Belgian-Nigerian author Chika Unigwe
- Tuesday 21 August: science fiction and fantasy writer China Miéville will close the conferene with The Future of the Novel in a session chaired by Denmark’s Janne Teller.
A further 40 delegates, from as far afield as Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, Australia and the Dominican Republic, will join the keynote speakers and the public audience to debate the daily topic and to discuss how writing and the imagination are an essential component of society today.
Internationally renowned authors including Dag Solstad from Norway, Xi Chuan and Xiaolu Guo from China, Michel de Bris from France, Samar Yazbek from Syria and Andrei Astvatsaturov from Russia, who will all be appearing exclusively at the Writers’ Conference, will be joined by leading British writers including Ben Okri, Nick Laird, Owen Sheers, John Burnside and Jackie Kay.
Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival says the Conference will be a "fantastic opportunity" for Edinburgh audiences to meet international authors as well as join in the global debate.
Susie Nicklin, British Council Director of Literature, said “We are looking forward to infusing the global conversation with the traditional wit and engagement of Edinburgh’s lively audiences.”
Edinburgh World Writers Conference Sessions at the Edinburgh International Book Festival run from 3.00pm to 5.00pm daily from Friday 17 to Tuesday 21 August.
Tickets, priced at £10 (£8 concessions) are available from www.edbookfest.co.uk or through the Box Office on 0845 373 5888. Each session will also be broadcast live on-line on www.edinburghworldwritersconference.org.