Deep dialogue
American author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates will discuss his new book ‘The Message’ speak as part of the Festival’s ‘The Front List’ series on Saturday 16 August.
Joined by historian and BAFTA-winning filmmaker David Olusoga, they will discuss issues relating to race and conflict across the world, and Coates’ views on how truth can be used to counter injustices.
Elsewhere, on Sunday 17 August, writer Maggie Nelson will discuss her latest work documenting her struggles with chronic pain during the pandemic era.
Health focus
Women’s health will take centre stage during BBC broadcaster and journalist Naga Munchetty’s talk on Saturday 23 August. Munchetty has spoken publicly about the struggles she has faced with adenomyosis.
Professor Devi Sridhar, the University’s Personal Chair in Global Public Health, will join the discussion on the UK’s healthcare system and the difficulties women still face in getting diagnosed and treated.
The event is being supported by the University’s Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), which brings scholars from around the world to the University to write, reflect and debate their ideas.
Imagined futures
A fascinating long-term initiative from Norway is the focus of the first event in the series sponsored by Edinburgh Futures Institute. Every year, for 100 years, an author writes a book to be kept – unread – in Norway’s Future Library, with every text remaining there until 2114.
Join Future Library’s Anne Beate Hovind as she leads a conversation with artist Katy Paterson, writer David Farrier and the yet-to-be-revealed 12th author on Wednesday 13 August.
The practices of repair and healing in Buddhism will be shared by Dr Halle O’Neal, Co-Director of Edinburgh Buddhist Studies at Edinburgh College of Art on Sunday 17 August.
On the final day of the festival, Professor Richard Susskind, one of the UK’s leading voices on legal innovation and AI, will examine the ethical complexities of technology during his talk, ‘Navigating the AI Revolution’.
