Black & White PHOTOs Edinburgh Book festival 2019

Inua Ellams

Edinburgh International Book festival, celebrates diversity and many different voices and backgrounds from across the globe. It is always good to see young, new voices given a platform to be heard.. 

Elizabeth Acevedo

Heida Ásgeirsdóttir

Isabella Hammad

Denise Mina

Rachel Long

Tania Nwachukwu

Hibaq Osman

New Voices Edinburgh book festival 2019

Rory Stewart

The people I meet.

The festival is about bringing people together to celebrate the spoken word. 

The challenges and the cycles of life: renewal and recharge.

After only a few days, I meet many interesting people. 

The people who attended are from so many different backgrounds, viewpoints and voices. We need more room and platforms for free debate.

Kenny MacAskill

There is supposed to be intermittent showers but its been mostly warm and sunny so far. Typical changeable August – perhaps more so than usual even. 

We need to new voices, but more than ever we need as many diverse voices as possible. So many of us feel betrayed, confused, let down, and not sure where the answers are anymore. We are in a great state of flux, things are shifting and great change is inevitable. At Biblos  restaurant- I wonder is the festival too big these days, with too much average and too little great? Another year gone. But I'm always inspired and often exhausted!

Rachel Long

Isabella Hammad

Heida Ásgeirsdóttir

 Inua Ellams

The theme this year was – We need new stories. 

One of the most original voices I’ve read in recent years over the present political madness of Brexit, is Irish Times writer Fintan OToole. His event at eibf sold out instantly when tickets went on sale- so I was surprised when I joined the long queue to see him that is was doing his talk in the small Spark tent on George street, rather than the main New York Times tent. 

Clare Balding

Nicola Sturgeon and Arundhati Roy

Fintan O’Toole

I am presently reading O’Toole’s recent book, Heroic Failure, on the Brexit carry on, and what an excellent story teller he is in his well researched tale. Things are badly off kilter and we certainly need well researched and original new voices. 

Question?  Is EIBF, or rather why does eibf not cater for the young adults, if not why not? 

Photography -  Some people have a presence or inner light that shines through in their photos. Perhaps its experience, character or simply knowing who you are. At eibf there is such a great variety of characters to shoot – from explorers, composers, journalists, illustrators, scientists, poets, comedians, politicians,.

Tania Nwachukwu

Amna Saleem 

Denis mina

Miriam Khan

**TALKS

Gender Debate: What is Gender in the 21^stcentury.

Her Scotland, author Rosemary Gorling

Lowland Clearances, Tom Devine

**BOOKS

Fintan O’Toole – Heroic Failure

Tom Devine – The Scottish Clearances

David McCraw - Truth in Our Times 

Robert Crawford – The Book of Iona

Marina Warner – Forms of Enchantment : Writing on Arts and Artists

Naomi Wolfes Beauty Myth 2019, Edinburgh book festival 2019

The Beauty Myth/ Gender Debate: what is gender in the 21^stcentury. 

Panel; Amelia Abraham, Palko Karasz, Elizabeth Pata, Naomi Wolfe (New York Times debate series) 

Naomi Wolfe, wrote her defining feminist book in Edinburgh in 1990. She said that Scotland is a place that dreams of a better world, re-inventing itself into a better future. 

The feminist Mystic. That images of beauty are used against women in a second wave. Unattainable beauty.  What did she have to say for todays women?  She saw the positives of social media – we are more critical and knowledgeable .  Recently the Times Up and #Metoo movements. 

They also discussed the Digital age: change and positives.

The Arab Spring, when young women at keyboards  liberated women to have a voice and without the internet harder to organise. Find your community.

The Negatives were – the online harassment of female journalist and politicians. Threats to free speech and the means of controlling the population to whip up divisiveness.

Wolfe spoke of her latest book, OutRages. She said there used to be a wider version of masculinity, now men are all in black suits. 

Unfortunately, although the debate had a 90 minute time slot – Elizabeth was confused over what 90 minutes meant, and the one and a half hour should have easily left 30 minutes for a fine debate and interesting feedback from the audience. I felt much of the panels chat was highly idealistic and theoretical. Elizabeth spoke of the language of gender

**My Views

-Fashion and gender neutrality, so both boys and girls have broader choices.

Gender neutral toys – art, sport, play-do, Lego etc. rather than sparkly pink fluff and aggressive war toys. Sadly I was shocked to discover that it is much worse today than it was when my children were young in the 80s. I now shop for my grandson and I am horrified to find the toys and clothes are even more extreme!

-Encourage team sport for young girls much more.

-Paternity leave? My son took paternity leave last year and was surprised to find he was one of the very few men on paternity leave. Many women feel odd about it still, very strangely.  

Why did the journalist Shona Craven raise a complex legal issue over gender, when she might have made a more important point over how she was personally affected by Wolfe’s Beauty Myth as a teenager, but now felt disillusioned over how things have progressed since then.