Our final Book Talk podcast features a pair of heavyweights from the world of crime fiction and a debut author we should all be sure to keep an eye on. First up: Ryan Van Winkle has a chat with bestselling author Val McDermid and her partner in crime (research), forensic anthropologist Sue Black. Val has recently returned to her roots as a journali…

This month, our Book Talk panel turns its attention to the latest book by fantastic Scottish author, Andrew O'Hagan. The Illuminations tells two stories; the first of Anne Quirk, a once-great photographer trying to reconnect with her past, and the second, of her grandson Luke, serving in the British Army in Afghanistan. Andrew O'Hagan has been twic…

This month, Ryan Van Winkle and our own Sasha de Buyl interview best-selling YA authors Garth Nix (@garthnix), Leigh Bardugo (@LBardugo) and David Levithan (@loversdiction) about returning to different worlds, crafting a series and creating characters that break the mould. Garth Nix is the Australian-born author of the Old Kingdom series, the Keys …

This month, our Book Talk panel turns its attention to the popular autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis, by French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi. With a title that references the ancient capital of the Persian empire, Persepolis is a coming-of-age tale that spans some of the most unsettled years in Iran's recent history. The first volume tell…

In our first set of interviews for 2015, Ryan Van Winkle talks to Lucy Ribchester, Lucy Hughes-Hallett and Elizabeth Gifford about suffragettes, mythology and the fascist poet who wanted to create his own utopia. Lucy Ribchester is the Edinburgh-based author of the recently-published The Hourglass Factory, her first novel. As well as being shortlis…

This month, our Book Talk panel turns its attention to the wildly successful Wild by Cheryl Strayed. This highly personal, admirably honest memoir details the authors journey from a lost 26-year-old who thought she had lost everything following her mother's shockingly quick death from cancer. With nothing to lose, she made the impulsive decision to…

Jodi Picoult is the author of 23 books that have sold over 23 million copies. Her latest novel Leaving Time debuted at number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The book tells the story of Alice Metcalf, and elephant researcher, and her daughter Jenna. Following Alice's disappearance, Jenna uses Alice's diaries to find out more about her moth…

This month, the Book Talk panel has been discussing the 2014 Man Booker Prize winner, Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Taking its title from one of the most famous books in Japanese literature, written by the great haiku poet Basho, Flanagan’s novel has as its heart one of the most infamous episodes of Japanese history, the con…

In this edition of Book Talk, Ryan Van Winkle talks modern day crime with Martina Cole, 18th century science with Jack Wolf, and ancient Memopotamian stories with Irving Finkel.Martina Cole is a legendary British crime writer. She's the author of 21 books, including her most recent novel The Good Life.Cole discusses her background, how she stays up…

This month finds the Book Talk panel reading and discussing The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. Faber's first book in fourteen years is a tale of adventure, faith and the ties that might hold two people together when they are worlds apart. Peter Leigh is a husband, a Christian, and now a missionary. As The Book of Strange New Things ope…

In this edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle and Sasha de Buyl talk to Ron Butlin, Donal McLaughlin and Eimear McBride about family and place. A Girl is a Half-formed ThingWith an international reputation as a prize-winning novelist, Ron Butlin is a former Edinburgh Makar/Poet Laureate (2008-2014) whose fourth novel, Ghost Moon, is out now. T…

This month, Book Talk has been reading and discussing Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid, a modern re-imagining of the Jane Austen classic. This is the second release from the Austen Project, which pairs six bestselling contemporary authors with Jane Austen’s six complete works. Seventeen-year-old Catherine 'Cat' Morland has led a sheltered existence…

In this edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle talks to Ajay Close and David Mitchell about time, ethics and mortality. Novelist and dramatist Ajay Close discusses her latest book, Trust. Trust follows the lives of a disparate group of characters working in mining and banking and the effects or two major events, the miner's strike and the banki…

This month, Book Talk has been reading and discussing The Bone Clocks, the highly anticipated new novel by David Mitchell. The book follows Holly Sykes, a young girl suffering from aural hallucinations, from her teenage years in Gravesend across the world - both geographically and temporally - to a future in the West of Ireland after civilisation h…

Podcast Contents 00:00 - 00:45 Introduction00:45 - 11:05 Patrick Ness11:05 - 20:28 Mike Cuddihy20:28 - 32:50 John Gordon Sinclair In this edition of Book Talk. Host Ryan Van Winkle talks to Patrick Ness, Mikey Cuddihy and John Gordon Sinclair about spite, happiness and motivations for writing. Two-time winner of the Carnegie Award, Patrick Ness is …

A boy drowns. He wakes up in a house he hasn't lived in for years. The world is deserted. More Than This has a gripping and brutal opening chapter, but does the book live up to the potential of its opening? Host Sasha deBuyl is joined by children’s bookseller Eve Harvey and young adult author Keith Gray to discuss the book, the most recent Young Ad…

Podcast contents00:00-01:27 Introduction01:27-12:57 Nick Barley12:57-23:35 Natalie Haynes23:35-27:22 Karrie Fransman and Amruta Patil 27:22-30:48 Gail Porter Creativity and storytelling weave their way through this edition of Book Talk as host Ryan Van Winkle talks to Nick Barley, Natalie Haynes, Karrie Fransman, Amruta Patil and Gail Porter.Nick B…

It's Tartt, but is it art? In this edition of Book Talk, host Paul Gallagher is joined by journalist and broadcaster Jane Graham and Scottish Book Trust's Head of Reader Development to delve into the themes, characters and preoccupations of Donna Tartt's bestselling third novel, The Goldfinch. Centred around the life of Theo Dekker, a New Yorker wh…

Paul Gallagher is joined by The Scotsman features writer Lee Randall and freelance journalist and books blogger Nicola Balkind to discuss Jennifer Egan’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winner A Visit from the Goon Squad, as well as choosing some related reading recommendations. Driven less by a progressing narrative or a central character than by several over…

In this edition of Book Talk host Ryan Van Winkle takes us on a literary trip around the world, stopping off in Roman Britain, on the River Nile and in the Middle East. Charlotte Higgins is the author of Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain. Having travelled around Britain in a campervan, Charlotte talks to Ryan about how the idea of Roman …

In this edition of Book Talk Scottish author Barry Hutchison and journalist and critic Chitra Ramaswamy join host Sasha de Buyl to talk about The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins, the new novel by Irvine Welsh. Trainspotting may have been named as the nation’s favourite Scottish novel, but The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins is proving much more divisive, wit…

In this edition of Book Talk, Ryan Van Winkle speaks to Chris Ware, Dilys Rose and Michael Fry about stories, memories and histories. Chris Ware is an American graphic novelist whose latest book is Building Stories. The book, which has no beginning or end, is designed to reflect the non-linear way we remember our lives. Chris talks about why he dec…

In this edition of Book Talk we’re discussing The Humans by adult and young adult novelist Matt Haig. When Professor Andrew Martin solves the Riemann hypothesis, one of the world’s greatest mathematical problems, the inhabitants of planet Vonnadoria panic. Fearing what warmongering, greedy humans will do with this mathematical knowledge, the Vonnad…

In this edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle talks to author Scott Westerfeld about steampunk and zeppelins, discusses the myths of modern Scotland with commentator and academic Gerry Hassan, and looks at how crime and science work together in fiction with Lin Anderson and Doctor Kathy Charles. Scott Westerfeld, author of the Uglies trilogy, …

This month, host Paul Gallagher is joined by two Scottish writers, Kirsty Logan and Gavin Inglis to discuss Tenth of December, the new collection of short stories from George Saunders. Saunders has received many awards and accolades for his short story writing, most recently the inaugural Folio Prize, yet he is far from a household name. Tenth of D…

In this edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle interviews bestselling American author George Saunders and Scottish crime writers Alex Gray and Doug Johnstone. Tenth of December, the sci-fi infused short-story collection by George Saunders was recently awarded the inaugural Folio Prize. George reads ‘Sticks’, a story from the collection and talk…

Conceived by filmmaker J.J. Abrams and written by novelist Doug Dorst, S has been hailed as a brand new reading experience, but does it live up to the hype? Joining host Sasha deBuyl are Nicola Balkind, freelance writer and books blogger and Iain Morrison, Enterprise Manager at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery. S is an ambitious and complex work wit…

In this edition of the Book Talk podcast Ryan Van Winkle interviews Kirsty Logan about her debut collection of short stories, discusses parkour with novelist and poet Tim Sinclair and imagines the Scotland of the future with sci-fi author Ken MacLeod. The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales is the debut short story collection from former New Writers …

This month, Book Talk cranks up the heat and settles in for a chat about Michel Faber's creepy sci-fi-meets-horror debut, Under the Skin, soon to be released as a film starring Scarlett Johansson. Joining host Danny Scott are Sarah Stewart, a senior editor at Floris Books, founder of the Lighthouse Children's Literary Consultancy and soon-to-be-pub…

In this edition of the Book Talk podcast Ryan Van Winkle interviews bestselling Chocolat author Joanne Harris, biologist and science writer Aarathi Prasad and Dr Karin Kukkonen, an academic specialising in the history of graphic novels. Peaches for Monsieur le Curé is the third in Joanne Harris's series of books about Vianne Rocher, the chocolatier…

One of Britain's favourite narrative non-fiction writers is back with a fast-paced, often hilarious look at the events and people that shaped one eventful summer during the Roaring 20's. With his usual wry humour, Bryson details an enormously eventful five month period in the late 1920s when America reached the zenith of Jazz Age exuberance and ful…

An exciting new year has begun, and, appropriately, we're looking to the future in this, our first edition of Book Talk for 2014! Host Ryan Van Winkle sits down with three very different people to chat about what the future may hold for books and for Scotland. To get things started, literary critic and Man Booker Prize judge Stuart Kelly discusses …

Book Talk is seeing out 2013 with a bang, tackling Eleanor Catton's 800+ page Man Booker Prize Winner, The Luminaries. Sasha de Buyl is joined by Lois Wolfe, head of development at the National Library of Scotland, and literary critic and Man Booker judge Stuart Kelly to discuss Catton's challenging tome. Set in the New Zealand goldfields in the mi…

What did you get up to during Book Week Scotland? Did you meet some of your favourite authors, try our Literary Personalities app, or grab your copy of Treasures? In this instalment of Book Talk, Ryan Van Winkle takes us on a quick tour of the week, sitting down with two authors and staying up all night at the Fruitmarket Gallery. First up, Ryan me…

Book Week Scotland 2013 kicks off next week, and in this special edition of Book Talk, host Ryan Van Winkle gives us a preview of just a few of the exciting events to come! Scottish Book Trust's Head of Reader Development, Philippa Cochrane, and Reader Development Administrator, Sasha de Buyl get things started by sharing where you can find out abo…

Close Your Eyes, Ewan Morrison's award-winning fourth novel, is the subject of our panel's scrutiny in this month's Book Talk. Moderated by Danny Scott, guests Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and cultural critic and New Writers Awardee Lucy Rochester peel away the layers of this onion-like work, searching for the…

Journeys - both literal and literary - weave through the latest edition of Book Talk, which sees host Ryan Van Winkle sit down with authors Olivia Lang, Sarah Hall, Pedro Lenz and translator Donal McLaughlin to talk about their latest projects. Granta Best Young British Novelist Sarah Hall reads a creepy excerpt from her new short story collection,…

MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood's highly anticipated conclusion to the 'disturbingly credible' dystopian trilogy begun with Orynx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, has finally arrived and gets the Book Talk treatment this month, at the hands of Paul Gallagher, freelance writer Lee Randall and Book Riot contributor Edd McCracken. Bringing together the…

Joe Sacco's comic-based journalism broke ground in establishing graphic novels as a serious art form, so we were very excited to get the chance to speak to him at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival. The resulting conversation didn't disappoint, as he gave us his thoughts on reportage ("truth is always just as interesting as any fabri…

This month, host Sasha de Buyl is joined by Graphic Scotland's Ariadne Cass-Maran and Scottish Book Trust's own Michael Merillo to discuss Neil Gaiman's latest novel for adults, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. But is this book, about a man who looks back on his childhood haunts and adventures and his friendship with a very unusual girl, really me…

At the end of August, Book Talk packed its bags and made its way over to the white-tented confines of Charlotte Square, for the Edinburgh International Book Festival. While there, we had the chance to have a quick catch up with award winning author and storytelling behemoth, Neil Gaiman. As we only had a few minutes, we chatted a little about Neil’…

Summer may be winding down but Book Talk is heating up with a lineup of inspiring (and inspired!) authors who join host Ryan Van Winkle to talk about their upcoming books, how they work humour into even the most harrowing stories, their admiration for flawed characters and how jazz wakes up the mind. Genre-defying Helen Fitzgerald gets things start…

Book Talk host Paul Gallagher is joined by science fiction author Ken MacLeod and editor and literary events organiser Oisin Murphy-Lawless to discuss The Quarry, the final novel from the greatly loved and respected Scottish writer Iain Banks, who sadly passed away in early June this year, just days before The Quarry was published. The Quarry is na…

Summer is heating up, and we have a sizzling edition of Booktalk to go with the rising temperatures. First up, host Ryan Van Winkle sits down with Ruth Ozeki, whose novel, A Tale for the Time Being, has been longlisted for this year's Booker Prize. The book, about a diary written by a 16-year-old Japanese girl that washes up in British Columbia, in…

Ghana Must Go, the much-anticipated debut novel of writer, photographer and designer Taiye Selasi, is the subject of this instalment of Book Talk. Host Danny Scott is joined by Ali Bowden, head of Edinburgh City of Literature, and SBT's Writer Development Manager, Will Mackie. Together, they attempt to peer through the clouds of hype surrounding th…

Summer has started, and there's lots to look forward to! Host Ryan Van Winkle takes a few moments to sit down with Irish author Kevin Barry, whose most recent collection of short stories, Dark Lies the Island, was published last year on the heels of his critically lauded novel, The City of Bohane. Barry is as much a poet in speech as he is on the p…

Guest host Sasha de Buyl is joined by screenwriter, poet and Leith Library's Reader in Residence, Emily Dodd, and Rachel McCrum, performance poet and co-founder of Stewed Rhubarb Press to discuss R J Palacio's bestselling children's novel, Wonder. Wonder tells the story of 10-year-old August Pullman, a boy with a severe facial deformity who faces g…

Where do writers find their inspiration? As Ryan Van Winkle discovers in this edition of Bookmarked: pretty much anywhere, and not necessarily where you'd expect. Denise Mina found it in a commonplace object that nobody else wanted, spinning a Treasures tale of surprising emotional depth around a battered tea tin that once belonged to her grandmoth…

As the new film version hits cinemas, revisit our discussion from May 2012 about the enduring appeal of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel and what makes a book particularly re-readable. In this edition of Book Talk we focus on a classic, which many people would call the classic: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Paul Gallagher is joined by two avo…