Potentially, the most ambitious and impactful event of this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival will be a series of discussions run in partnership with the British Council. These discussions – which will open with a keynote speech delivered by a noted author – will bring together fifty leading Scottish and international fiction writers, as they explore writing and imagination and how much it has become an essential element in today’s society.
Inspired by the 1962 Writers’ Conference in Edinburgh, and supported by The Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund, Creative Scotland, the City of Edinburgh Council and Event Scotland, the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference 2012-2013 will, on five consecutive afternoons between 17 – 21 August, cover the themes of censorship, style vs content, national literature, whether literature should be political, and the future of the novel.
Speaking of this innovative series of discussions, Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh Book Festival, had the following to say:
We believe that writers have a role to play in stimulating our imaginative health and thereby engendering mutual respect amongst individuals and nations. The Conference represents an opportunity for all of us to rethink how writers, and their writing, can play a part in understanding and improving our world.
Aside from the audience assembled in the RBS Main Theatre, each of the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference events will also be broadcast live online, where participants around the world will be encouraged to join in the debate.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival is only the starting point for the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference. Following this year’s festival, the conference will spend twelve months touring the world, visiting a total of thirteen countries – Australia, Belguim, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa, Trinidad and Turkey – before returning to Charlotte Square Gardens in 2013.
The Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference will culminate in the publication of a ‘landmark book’, on the theme of writing today. Edited by author and former Director on the Edinburgh Film Festival, Hannah McGill, this book will feature highlights of this global conference series.
For futher details, please visit the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference website, or the Edinburgh International Book Festival website where details of each event can be found. Future discussions can also be followed on Twitter, using the hashtag #worldwritersconf.