Edinburgh Book Festival 2008

[Stewart]

The line-up for this year's Edinburgh Book Festival (http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/) has just been announced (get the catalogue in PDF here (http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/pdf/2008_book_festival.pdf)).

Here are some of the events that may interest:




Gy?rgy Dragom?n & Saša Stanišic
WRITERS OF THE WORLD


Two utterly captivating novels from Eastern Europe to kick off our series
bringing themost exciting international voices to Scotland. Young Bosnian
Saša Staniši?c has sprung to stunning acclaimfor his debut How
The Soldier Repairs The Gramophone, a quirky, heartfelt boy’s-eye view of
the Bosnian conflict. Hungarian Gy?rgy Dragom?n also poignantly conjures

a boy’s perspective as his father is




C?line Curiol, H?diKaddour, & Florian Zeller
WRITERS OF THE WORLD


A fabulous French fictional feast for our first eveningwith three very different but equally beguiling voices. C?line Curiol creates a superbly unsettling portrait of a station announcer catapulted into her own fantasy. H?di Kaddour offers an epic and riveting tale of twentieth century espionage. The brilliant young Florian Zeller –multi award-winning and only twenty nine – looks at East-West tensions when a French guest arrives in Egypt.






Paulus Hochgatterer & Marek Krajewski

WRITERS OF THE WORLD
Dark, seductive and gripping – introducing two Europeanmasters of the
psychological thriller. Acclaimed Polish award-winner Marek Krajewski’s
Death in Breslau conjures a city in the grip of the Gestapo. Paulus


Hochgatterer, an Austrian child psychiatrist, utilises his professional
knowledge in The Sweetness of Life, the tale of a traumatized child in
an Alpine village.






Preeta Samarasan & Yasmina Traboulsi
WRITERS OF THE WORLD


Stunningly rich and beautifully realised debut novels fromMalaysia and Brazil. Preeta Samarasan’s Evening Is TheWhole Day is amagical, sweeping portrait of generations of aMalaysian family; Yasmina Traboulsi’s Bahia Blues superbly conjures the voices of an impoverished community living in the old quarter of Salvador da Bahia.






Traboulsi's Bahia Blues was also longlisted for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.


Jos? Eduardo Agualusa & Uwem Akpan
WRITERS OF THE WORLD
Captivating work from Angola and Zimbabwe, sweeping across the African continent. Jos? Eduardo Agualusa, winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, returns with hismagical new novelMy Father’s Wives, filled with women andmusic. Uwem Akpan’s powerful stories in Say You’re One of Themlook at African conflicts and deprivation through the clear eyes of children.

In fact, the list goes on and on, with writers from all over the world. I hope I can get to a few of these.

[Eric]

CATEGORIES AT EDINBURGH

It is most encouraging that a number of foreign writers are featuring at Edinburgh. One in the eye for the English, and all that.

One small fly in the the ointment is the kind of apartheid involved when listing foreigners under a rubric "World Writing" while jolly Brits and Yanks, writer in English, tend to be listed under "Fiction", "Literature" or "Poetry". Tariq Ali and Barry Atwan are listed under another rubric: "Nations". Why Adriaan van Dis and Alain Sulzer are suddenly listed under "Fiction" I cannot tell.

A question: the "World Writing" events are mostly housed in the Writers' Retreat (with the exception of, for instance, Kj?rstad and Ullmann and other Norwegians). Is this room of equal dignity and prestige to the main venue, or is it an obscure room with twenty-five folding chairs?

But this festival is trying much, much harder to invite European authors than any of the English book and literature festivals that I have seen. It is a stride in the right direction, judging by the programme.

[Colette Jones]

Eric, I think you may have misunderstood their "world writing" category, so I've copied from the brochure here.

Writers of the World
Internationalism is our passion. We believe that in our increasingly globalised but also increasingly fragmented and uncomprehending world, knowing what other countries and cultures read, write and think is the greatest key to empathy and understanding. We therefore actively seek to bring writers from all over the world to the heart of Scotland - many of them would never otherwise visit the UK. Look out for our Writers of the World series in our lovely Writer's Retreat at a special low price. Amazing new novelists and poets from other lands await your discovery - the very heart of what the festival is for.I think the more "well known" authors may indeed have a different category next to their event. Maybe they should allow more than one label.

I don't know if you have been to any of these festivals, but take it from me, the Writers' Retreat holds much appeal to some audience members. I quite often will make a choice based on the size of the venue, the smaller the better.

In this respect, Edinburgh beats Hay hands down - they have not let any venue get too big.

[Eric]

Yes, Colette, the Edinburgh beats the Hay hands down, from what I read, when it comes to taking notice of non-English-speakers.

But I never take pious aspirations at face value. Unless I am mistaken, I seem to remember that the Edinburgh last year was just as dismally introverted as the Hay, Cheltenham, Oxford, and so on. Even though the Scots are better at connecting with Europe and its cultures than the English.

When the word "passion" (or "empathy", "amazing", etc.) appears in a text, you know that you're in for a bout of the hard sell. The language of the quote that Colette gives in the previous thread is rather empty, self-congratulatory and condescending. Britain does not need a load of vibrant weirdos from Europe. Britain needs to connect with serious European writers on the same terms as Brits go and listen to British novelists, poets, etc. No sheltered workshops for foreigners - just good interpreters for those who can't manage to do their thing in English.

"Well-known" usually means well-known amongst readers of a couple of British dailies and the LRB and TLS. There are hardly any contemporary foreign authors at all that are well-known in Britain. If they're not translated into English, they obviously "don't exist" from the point of view of British audiences. Also, dead authors can be just as good as photogenic ones put on stage to read for half an hour from their latest novel. Books are to be read not intoned, and personally, I read a book better at home. I cannot concentrate when the audience is sliding in and out to replenish their drinks, as can happen at readings.

Book festivals have also become far too celebrity-driven. As I have said, Jeremy Clarkson, Bill Clinton and the odd bod from TV news are no substitute for real literary figures and books.

[Colette Jones]

Unless I am mistaken, I seem to remember that the Edinburgh last year was just as dismally introverted as the Hay, Cheltenham, Oxford, and so on.

I cannot concentrate when the audience is sliding in and out to replenish their drinks, as can happen at readings.
Eric, you really need to give one of these festivals a try before you slate them. The second quote tells me you haven't actually been to any of those you mention in the first quote. The audience does not move about during the events, and they are not "readings". Some authors do read a few passages from their latest work but most do not. I agree that it is boring when they do but some people love that bit of it.

I also think you should go and experience the "Writer's Retreat". It is simply a name of one of the tents, not "a sheltered workshop for foreigners".

The language of the quote that Colette gives in the previous thread is rather empty, self-congratulatory and condescending.I'm not sure what you really want, Eric! They have stated they are pursuing exactly what you said in another thread that British book festivals do not pursue.

[Eric]

There are two different issues here:

1) My personal dislike for readings of passages from novels, an activity done much better in silence at home.

2) The more important one. With the best will in the world, you cannot claim that the Hay, the Oxford and the Cheltenham book or literary festivals take much note of contemporary European authors and their works. Wriggle as you might, you cannot escape the truth that there appears to be disdain, ignorance and latent contempt regarding what is being written in Europe in "non-English", right now. The only Continentals let through the sluice are those writing crime novels, such as some Scandinavians, plus the odd Norwegian celebrity (e.g. a daughter of Ingmar Bergman - and Henning Mankell is his son-in-law), because Norway is prepared to finance the promotion of its literature on a serious basis, plus the likes of Akunin.

Examine the following three websites in detail, and please note how many authors of contemporary European fiction or poetry are invited in from across the Manche or the North Sea to rub shoulders with such English-speaking celebrities as ex-President Carter or Jeremy Clarkson. The English bookfests have sold their birthright to commercialism and celebrity drooling:

http://www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/

http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/whats_on/literature_festival.html

http://www.hayfestival.com/wales/default.aspx

This is all a Europhobic sham. Literature is part-fiction, part-non-fiction. But the English bookfests have moved on to big-name English-language crowd-pullers, and seem utterly indifferent to the hundreds of authors writing fiction and poetry right now in Europe. Whether you like or hate the EU, please note that a great deal of important and interesting literature is being written throughout Europe - in other languages than English. And most British literati haven't the slightest idea about it. The anus-humerus syndrome.

[Colette Jones]

2) The more important one. With the best will in the world, you cannot claim that the Hay, the Oxford and the Cheltenham book or literary festivals take much note of contemporary European authors and their works.
The paragraph I quoted is from the Edinburgh festival programme. I didn't mean to imply that other festivals are taking note. I would agree that they do not seem to be.

Wriggle as you might, you cannot escape the truth that there appears to be disdain, ignorance and latent contempt regarding what is being written in Europe in "non-English", right now. The only Continentals let through the sluice are those writing crime novels, such as some Scandinavians, plus the odd Norwegian celebrity (e.g. a daughter of Ingmar Bergman - and Henning Mankell is his son-in-law), because Norway is prepared to finance the promotion of its literature on a serious basis, plus the likes of Akunin.As I think you are still talking about the literary festivals here, I'll give you ignorance as quite possible or probable, but not disdain or latent contempt.

You seem quite angry with this situation, which is fine, but if you can get over to Edinburgh in August you might be pleasantly surprised.

[Eric]

Colette. You've got the message. I'm "quite angry".

While the Edinburgh has a few Europeans over from the Continent, which is a good start, the English - my people - appear not to make the slightest attempt to get contemporary European authors over to ply their wares.

If I had the money, I'd visit the Edinburgh and park myself almost permanently in the Writers' Lair, or whatever it's called.

But you can't get round the fact that even Edinburgh has sold itself to celebrity brown-tonguing, with Prezzo, Jonathan Dimbleby, Polly Toynbee, Kate Adie, and a host of other people from politics and TV - but relatively few major European authors. Do name a few of the contemporary German, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian authors that will be discussing their works.

And please explain what the term "book festival" is meant to signify. Ignorance and contempt go hand in hand.

[Colette Jones]

Right. Well.

I intend to enjoy myself at EdBookFest in complete ignorance then!

[LizzySiddal]

And I intend to enjoy myself at the EdBookFest in Eric's complete ignorance.

Perhaps if he actually read the program and counted up the number of nationalities represented at this year's festival, he'd smash up his soapbox because there's nothing left for him to rant about.

[Stewart]

While the Edinburgh has a few Europeans over from the Continent, which is a good start, the English - my people - appear not to make the slightest attempt to get contemporary European authors over to ply their wares.
Looking at the festivals, the keyword in the title is International as Edinburgh's festival is the only one to have that. Not to say it's a good or bad thing either way, but it shows that it's scope is wider reaching than the likes of Hay, Oxford, or Cheltenham.


If I had the money, I'd visit the Edinburgh and park myself almost permanently in the Writers' Lair, or whatever it's called.
As I've been away I've not yet had a chance, other than to glance, at the programme, and I think I'll be spending some time in the Writers' Retreat.


But you can't get round the fact that even Edinburgh has sold itself to celebrity brown-tonguing, with Prezzo, Jonathan Dimbleby, Polly Toynbee, Kate Adie, and a host of other people from politics and TV - but relatively few major European authors.
I would just write that off as a bit of something for everyone.

[Eric]

Lizzie, I know you from before. Eric's literary life is unashamaedly eclectic, and that's why I laugh at the absurdity of bookfests that exclude foreigners.

If I went to Edinburgh, I'd enjoy what is there. But that doesn't stop me from saying, in rather patronising tone, that they're better than the English - but not much. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

It would be a distortion of the truth if you claimed that:

a) There are lots of European authors at Hay, Oxford, and Cheltenham;

b) That these three festivals don't positively drool over celebrity - English-language celebrity. They haven't heard of anyone else to invite.

When the Arts Council, the British Council, linking up with the national literary promotion organisations from the various European countries get something going, I will be pleased. The money's there, but the will and skill aren't.

[Colette Jones]

Eric, unless you're an organizer of one of these festivals, I don't think you could say who has been invited. Not everyone says yes. I think you are one of those people who will never be pleased and furthermore I think you like it that way!

[Eric]

I take your point, Colette, but I doubt if there is a Europe-wide conspiracy by European authors to boycott the Hay, Oxford and Cheltenham book festivals. I think it much more likely that it never even crossed the minds of the organisers to look across to Europe, when people like Jeremy Clarkson, President Carter and others are in the queue to make big celebrity splashes which bring in the audiences, and thus the money. I think that most contemporary European authors would jump at the chance to be visible for a few hours at these prestigious British book festivals.

Of course I'll never be pleased while Europeans are shut out of the British book scene. That's why I'm moderately pleased at what Edinburgh is doing. Could be more vigorous, but it's certainly a start. If you Google a number of European book festivals, there's nearly always someone there from the USA or Britain. But Britain doesn't reciprocate. (The USA is beginning to.)

[Stewart]

I think it much more likely that it never even crossed the minds of the organisers to look across to Europe, when people like Jeremy Clarkson, President Carter and others are in the queue to make big celebrity splashes which bring in the audiences, and thus the money.
Sadder still is that it's your Carters that command the larger advances that necessitates having to promote them in the hope of recouping that money before turning a profit. With lesser known authors - in the absence of literary altruism - the advances, if evident, are sizeable.

[Colette Jones]

Well, I have to admit to seeing Clarkson this year at Hay to please my teenage son. My pre-teen son agrees with me that Clarkson is a complete dick. Anyway, I doubt that Hay is proud of having Clarkson after some of the daft things he said and they probably regret it.

Two years ago, though, I saw Al Gore I'm very glad I did. I didn't know much about him or his climate change presentation prior to that, and I would say it was one of the most worthwhile events I've ever attended. I think Jimmy Carter would be interesting. At least we're talking about intelligent people.

[Eric]

To prove my point about European book fairs and festivals, and guests, look at a few:

Vilnius Book Fair:

Among the prominent guests of the Vilnius Book Fair were Jonas Mekas, Alessandro Baricco, Frederic Beigbeder, Maxence Fermine, Melvin Burgess, Niccolo Ammanitti, Colleen McCullough, Herbj?rg Wassmo, Rein Raud, Aleksandra Marinina, Torgrim Eggen, Frank McCourt, John Irving and many others.

Source:
http://www.culturelive.lt/en/events2009/events2009-special/bookfair/

*

Turin Book Fair 2008

Israel was guest of honour.

Source:
http://www.fieralibro.it/pages/paese_ospite_en.jsp

*

Frankfurt Book Fair 2008

Turkey is Guest of Honour in 2008, China in 2009

Source:
http://www.buchmesse.de/en/fbf/programme/guest_of_honour/2008/

*

Leipzig Book Fair 2008

Some of the guests in 2008: Slavenka Drakulic (Croatian), Rafael Chirbes (Spanish), Sherko Fatah (German Kurd), L?szl? V?gel (Hungarian Serb), Michal Witkowski (Polish), Mircea Carterescu (Romanian), Marcel Bayer (German; was Writer in Residence at Warwick).

Source:
http://www.leipzig-liest.de/Meldungen/Highlights/45797/Autorenspecial_2008

*

London Book Fair 2008

Author of the Day: Sebastian Faulks, Alaa al Aswany (Egyptian journalist), Francesca Simon. English PEN Caf?: Blake Morrison, Tony Parsons, Lisa Appignanesi, Kate Mosse, Mourid Barghouti (Palestinian?), Xinran (China).

Source:
http://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/page.cfm/Link=266/t=m/goSection=45#PageAnchor02

*

G?teborg Book Fair 2005, 2007 (Sweden)

Estonia guest of honour 2007. The Estonian President opened the book fair. Estonian authors Doris Kareva, Asko K?nnap, Karl-Martin Sinij?rv and others invited. They did the same with Lithuania in 2005.

Source:
http://www.estlit.ee/?id=2181
http://www.booksfromlithuania.lt/index.php?page_id=28&news_id=10

*

Paris Book Fair 2007, 2008

In 2007, India was guest of honour, in 2008, Israel. Guests included David Grossman, Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua and Aharon Appelfeld.

*

That's just the book fairs. There are, of course, a host of book festivals as well. I will examine them another time.

But you get my point. Most nations are international in outlook regarding literature. England prefers remaining aloof, proud and dignified...

[Colette Jones]

Eric, your post doesn't prove anything... from what I can see you have listed book fairs in various countries (including England) who bring in writers from countries other than their own. I think you've lost track of what you're trying to prove. I also wonder why you posted it here rather than in the thread you started about British book festivals... Ah, I see, you're backpedaling because you meant to say English.

Have you by chance attempted to get yourself invited to one of these festivals and failed? I'm getting a very sour grapes feel from your last post.

[Eric]

My country, right or wrong. Wrong in this case. Prithee, patience, good Colette. I didn't want to miss wholesome British TV programmes such as Newsnight by moving on from book fairs, which admittedly are not book festivals, but are certainly a litmus test of the willingness of the Brits to take on board translated authors. All this proving the obvious does require an amount of effort.

Hah! You think you've caught me out because I shifted my ground and am trying to compare apples with oranges. Wait till I've done a Google for book festivals, literary festivals, and so on. I predict that the result will be almost the same. Let's see. Intuition is a valuable tool.

I shall Google the terms "book festival" and "literary festival" in a few languages, and see what I come up with.

No sour grapes. I let them ferment (aka: rot) and produce a toxic substance called wine...

[Colette Jones]

Eric, you missed my point completely (which I'm sure must be my fault for not explaining well, because you're obviously always right). My point has nothing to do with that you are now looking at book fairs instead of festivals; it is because you've included a London fair. Last I knew, London was in England!

Even beyond that, maybe it's because I'm a logician, but I'm not able to follow your arguments. I have no idea how Newsnight came into it, for example.

[Eric]

I accept that people regard book fairs and book festivals as somewhat different. But they overlap. Both, under normal circumstances, invite authors from abroad.

First Google term: "book festival". Googled at:

http://www.google.nl/search?as_q=&btnG=Google+otsing&as_epq=book+festival&as_oq=&as_eq=&cr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=

The one at the Library of Congress in the USA is just as inward-looking as Cheltenham-Hay-Oxford:

http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/authors/

The 2007 Texas Book Festival, ditto:

http://www.texasbookfestival.org/Authors.php

The Ann Arbor Book Festival has no European guest authors either:

http://www.aabookfestival.org/HTML/authors_2008_page2.htm


So maybe the Americans are as bad as the English, after all. But there are very many U.S. book festivals. Spot the foreigner at Atlanta, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Wisconsin, etc., etc.

Let's try other countries, whose languages are English:

The Wigtown Book Festival (Scotland). Here there is at least one Teresa Pascual, launching a Catalkan poetry anthology. But otherwise it's Brit-business as usual, with no foreigners. Though they are having the Reverend Ian Paisley, this October:

http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/

The Guildford Book Festival (England). Look at the mugshots, of the mostly smiling faces. Oh, they've got Simon Hoggart and Chris Patten alright; but where are the foreigners:

http://guildfordbookfestival.co.uk/html/index.php

Now the Banff Book Festival (Canada). the Mountain Book Fair and Festival:

http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/festivals/2007/book/

Dublin Book Festival. Spot the contemporary European author:

http://www.dublinbookfestival.com/authors.html

OK, we'll move on to Europe. First of all, not a book festival but an annual meeting of European authors in Lahti, Finland, which enables writers from all languages to mix. I'm sure Britain has something similar, but I haven't found it yet:

http://www.mukkula.org/vanhat/mukkula_vanha/kirjailijat/kirgalleria-englanti.htm

The Cairo Book Fair isn't Europe. Well, they are having problems with censorship, with books by, for instance, Milan Kundera, seized. Not a good role model for us:

http://www.livreshebdo.fr/actualites/DetailsActuRub.aspx?id=1384

By now, I am beginning to doubt the difference between book fairs and book festivals, except that the former also involve a degree of commercial exhibition, where the books themselves are displayed. Because it is at book fairs where authors are invited, for instance the Frankfurt Book Fair:

http://www.buchmesse.de/imperia/celum/documents/Neuerscheinungsliste_20080612_8683.pdf

This shows how many Turkish books have been translated into German to co-ordinate with the fact that Turkey is the Guest of Honour this year.

Vilenica International Book Festival as discussed elsewhere on the World Literature Forum. look at the list of particpants. This comes nearer to my ideal:

http://www.vilenica.si/ENG/participants.html

***

Googling for "book festival" in English and German is, admittedly, a bit of a dead end. So I'm trying "literary festival", and "literarisches Festival" and "Literaturfest".

Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin. Look at the authors for 2008:

http://www.literaturfestival.com/index1_3_5.html

This too is near to my ideal for a genuinely international book festival. This is a truly international event, and should be emulated in Britain! And read what Three Percent has to say about it:

http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=132

And now the PEN American Center Festival:

http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/1096

Also good, much better than the ones I started out looking at, at the top of the posting.

On to Cologne Book Festival (K?ln, in German). Look whom they invited in 2007:

http://www.litcologne.de/archiv/2007/kuenstler.html

And the previous several years which you can find. Plenty of feoreigners. Most writers are German-speaking. But skimming the list I can see William Boyd, Lisa St Aubin de Ter?n, Ketil Bj?rnstad, P?ter Eszterh?zy, Jonathan Franzen, Fred Vargas, Ismail Kadare.

The Bern Literature Festival tended, in 2006, to stick to German-speaking authors:

http://www.g26.ch/literaturfest-bern/autoren_und_autorinnen_01.html

In Leipzig, they hold the literary festival at the same time as the book fair. They gave the prize for European understanding to the Dutchman Geert Mak this year. While Croatia was the focus:

http://www.leipziger-messe.de/LeMMon/buch_web_ger.nsf/frames?OpenPage&Code=B9A1CAB1D7B58EC9C125733E002CC457

and

http://www.crobuch.de/

And the European Borderlands Festival in 2007. They invited people from Eastern & Central Europe, including the Belarusian author Valzhyna Mort.

Spot the foreign (mainly Russian) input at Literaturhaus Schleswig-Holstein:

http://www.literaturhaus-sh.de/programm/

***

Well, I've just Googled in English and German so far. But whether you are talking about book fairs or book festivals, I see, in Europe, an awareness of, and interest in, literature from the other countries of Europe. That is what I want England to start doing: bringing foreign authors to book events. My out and out favourites are the Berlin and Vilenica festivals.

[Colette Jones]

... My point has nothing to do with that you are now looking at book fairs instead of festivals;



I accept that people regard book fairs and book festivals as somewhat different. But they overlap. Both, under normal circumstances, invite authors from abroad.

Did you really not understand what I said above? Maybe if you translate it to Estonian you will understand it? :)

[Eric]

My simple point is this: Brits can't be bothered with European authors, because they never heard of most contemporary European authors, and can't be bothered with translations. Whether organisers give the cold shoulder within the framework of a book fair or a book festival is irrelevant. However you dress it up, and whatever you name it, the result is the same.

The core fact remains: book events this decade and held in England have had an extremely poor record when it comes to opening up the English book scene to European authors, the sort who are invited to the Berlin and Vilenica events described above. The English, and some U.S. book events pander to the crowd-pulling, lowest-common-denominator factor of inviting celebrities who have little to do with literature in the sense of fiction, essays and poetry.

[Katy]

Goodness me, Eric. I do sometimes think your arguments are counterproductive.

I agree, of course, with your main point that the English/British are largely ignorant of world writers and literature. But I do see a lot going on right now to combat that - not least this forum and other "grassroots" projects.

And I think we have to give credit where credit's due - Edinburgh rightly deserves its title of International Book Festival. I think we should be celebrating what is actually a success, not putting it down.

Incidentally, the Berlin festival is the only one in Germany with such a broad range of international authors - as it's the only one billed as international. But as so many of the books published in the country are translated out of English, it's often British or US authors who will pull the crowds. Which makes them the European equivalent of Bill Clinton and Frank Bruno or whoever the current crowd-pleasers are...

On that subject, I'm willing to put up with a system where the big names fund the more interesting, up-and-coming or obscure writers at festivals - although I suspect the scales have actually tipped too far in Hay. I often think that celebrity biographies, science fiction, chick lit, etc. might be the cannabis of literature - once you've tried them, you're more likely to move on to the hard stuff and start injecting books into your system on a regular basis.

I'd love to be able to go to Edinburgh, especially because of all the exciting German writers appearing there. Make sure you enjoy it for me, anyone who does make it!

[Stewart]

I'd love to be able to go to Edinburgh, especially because of all the exciting German writers appearing there. Make sure you enjoy it for me, anyone who does make it!
Well, the website is too slow to get a response from, so I'll need to wait. I'm hedging my bets, I suppose, that few will want to see those I would go along for.

[Stewart]

I finally got myself down for some of the events. There are others, more tentative, that I might take in nearer the time, provided they are not sold out.

But I've booked myself in for:

Dragom?n Gy?rgy and Sa?a Stani?ić
Florian Zeller, C?line Curiol, and Hedi Kaddour
Rabih Alameddine
Bengt Ohlsson and Klas ?stegren
Adriaan Van Dis and Alain Claude Sulzer
Jennifer Clement and Amanda Michalopolou

Add to that events featuring Patrick McGrath and Gordon Burn and a Translating Literature workshop and I'm quite happy. I've taken the week off work so I'll be floating around the bars and bookshops. Hopefully I'll pop into a couple of the Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers, but they seem to overlap with other events. And I might get through for the New Norwegian Writing event.

What I suppose needs done now is to get threads, if there aren't any already, on those authors in attendance at Edinburgh.

[Irene Wilde]

Stewart,

Do you have a laptop? Will you be reporting from the Festival or giving us a wrap up at the end? Strictly books and writers, or some local color as well?

[Stewart]

Do you have a laptop? Will you be reporting from the Festival or giving us a wrap up at the end? Strictly books and writers, or some local color as well?
No, I don't have a laptop. Edinburgh's only an hour on the train so I'll no doubt come back at the end of the days I'm there and post something about them. The Book Festival runs concurrently with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so I may find myself tempted by standup and theatre also...

And remember, this is Edinburgh: the local colour is grey. ;)

[Irene Wilde]

I think we need to take up a collection to purchase you a laptop and digital camcorder. We want the live experience, especially if you are going to mix the Fringe Festival in as well.

Miller wrote something somewhere about the nuances of grey -- it escapes me at the moment -- Quiet Days in Clichy, maybe.

[Stewart]

Just back from Day One. Was at Dragom?n Gy?rgy and Sa?a Stani?ić, then Florian Zeller and H?di Kaddour (as C?line Curiol cancelled at the last minute). The first was certainly the better of the two with meatier discussions, whereas much of the Zeller one was given over to speaking in French and then having it translated.(Was quite sad that there was only one question from the audience for Zeller/Kaddour - would have been two if Zeller hadn't inadvertently answered mine before I'd even asked it - but I get the feeling many were there for Curiol.

I got talking to Dragom?n about Hungarian Lit, and about how I'm just getting my feet wet in it, and he's given a number of recommendations which I've got sitting about the shelves already - M?rai, Esterh?zy (Celestial Harmonies, I'm reassured may be long but fragmentary and ideal for dipping in and out), Szerb, and Kert?sz. Thoroughly nice guy. Stani?ić, too, and I may have to dig out my proof of How The Soldier Repairs The Gramophone and give it another shot. (The English and Swedish versions, apparently, are better than the original German, since in the process of translation he can suggest further cuts, etc.)

Regarding the Zeller and Kaddour event, it was strange that Zeller was talking about The Fascination Of Evil as he wrote it five years ago (although it was only translated two years back) and has a translation of his 2006 novel Julien Parme just out. (Needless to say, he couldn't remember much of the novel from five years back.) Kaddour sounds like an interesting guy. He's a professor of French literature and has moved from poetry to his first novel, Waltenberg, a novel of espionage.

[Irene Wilde]

Well done, Stewart! Still want photos and video, but we'll work on that for next year. :)

[Stewart]

Still want photos and video, but we'll work on that for next year. :)
You'll no doubt get that on LizzySiddal's blog (http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/), as she's there for the duration.

[Eric]

I echo Irene: well done Stewart! You are like a kind of pioneer meeting and finding out about new authors.

I notice the comment about Stani?ić and the translation being better than the original. This can of course happen if the author decides to hone down the text to be translated, as has happened here with the English and Swedish versions. When the author is in control, things can be changed.

While I approve of a discussion which is interpreted, so as to get on board authors we would not otherwise get to speak, I do sympathise with having to cope with the sheer clumsiness of a discussion where everything is relayed, thus delayed.

Will look at Lizzy Siddal's blog.

[Irene Wilde]

You'll no doubt get that on LizzySiddal's blog (http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/), as she's there for the duration.

Lizzy's got the spirit! Now it's like we have "team coverage" of the event!

Question, Stewart, do you, too, have your flask? Can you find out what Lizzy's contains?

[Stewart]

No, no flask for me. I'm more likely to just hit the nearby pubs. The 'courtyard' of the event is open to the public, so it's not a case of once you're in, you're in for good.

[Irene Wilde]

Any particular pubs? How's the weather?

[Stewart]

Any particular pubs? How's the weather?
No particular pubs. It was an in and out job yesterday, although I plan on spending the whole days from the 18th. The weather is rotten: perfect for fish.

[Eric]

I only remember one pub in Edinburgh. One street parallel to Princes Street, if I remember rightly. Beer was good, though. Name escapes me. It was sunny then. But that was in 1998. Not a great terrace outside. Plastic chairs. But fine inside. Just like an English pub. (Sorry, did I say anything wrong?) We went to Hill House during that visit. Nice house. Wouldn't mind owning it myself. But they didn't let us out of the coach as we traversed Glasgow.

Has it been sunny since 1998 in Edinburgh, I wonder? Where do the writers hang out? Next time I visit Edinburgh (that would be my second visit) I'd like to rub shoulders with a few civilised Scottish authors. Glad that Irving Welsh is in Florida, or wherever. That'll keep him occupied. But I'm going to come off-season. No Festival, just a tranquil city.

[Katy]

(The English and Swedish versions, apparently, are better than the original German, since in the process of translation he can suggest further cuts, etc.)

Aha! I know he was working very closely indeed with the Croatian (?) translator, and they were practically rewriting the book as they went along. Incidentally, they are a similar age she also learned German as a refugee in Austria but then returned home as an adult.