PLAYING DIRTY 4.30-6.00pm   LIBRARY UPSTAIRS

Sunday 9th October

The last event for this year’s Portobello Book Festival looks into the world of sport. Competitive sports have recently come into international disrepute over accusations of doping, bullying and corruption. Richard Moore, journalist, author (of The Bolt Supremacy among others) and former racing cyclist, Alan Bissett, novelist (Death of a Ladies Man among others), playwright and Rangers fan, and Maddie Breeze, sociologist and author on women’s roller derby (Seriousness and Women’s Roller Derby), discuss the state of sport in the contemporary world.

Chair: John Kelly

Beijing 2008, the 100 metres final: Usain Bolt slows down, beats his chest, metres clear of his nearest rival, his face filled with the euphoria of a young man utterly in thrall to his extraordinary physical talent. It is one of the greatest sporting moments. It is just the beginning.

Of the ten fastest 100-metres times in history, eight belong to Jamaicans. How is it that a small Caribbean island has come to almost totally dominate the men’s and women’s sprint events?

The Bolt Supremacy opens the doors to a community where sprinting permeates conversations and interactions; where the high school championships are watched by 35,000 screaming fans; where identity, success and status are forged on the track, and where making it is a pass to a world of adoration and lucrative contracts.

In such a society there can be the incentive for some to cheat. There are those who attribute Jamaican success to something beyond talent and hard work. Award-winning writer Richard Moore doesn’t shy away from difficult questions as he travels the length of this beguiling country speaking to anti-doping agencies, scientists and sceptics as well as to coaches, gurus, superstar athletes and the young guns desperate to become the next big thing. Peeling back the layers, Moore finally reveals the secrets of Usain Bolt and the Jamaican sprint factory.

By day, Charlie Bain is the school’s most inspiring teacher. By night he prowls the stylish bars of Glasgow seducing women. Fuelled by art, drugs and fantasies of being an indie star, Charlie journeys further into hedonism, unable to see the destruction his desires are leading everyone towards…

One of Scotland’s dazzling young writing talents tackles the modern phenomenon of sex addiction. Dark, funny and deliciously erotic, DEATH OF A LADIES’ MAN is an intense portrait of male vanity, written with verve and emotional rawness.

This book explores seriousness in practice in the unique sports context of contemporary women’s flat track roller derby. The author presents a stimulating argument for a sociology of seriousness as a productive contribution to understandings of gender, organization and the mid-ranges of agency between dichotomies of voluntarism and determinism.

MEET THE AUTHOR  3.15-4.15pm   LIBRARY 

Sunday 9th October

James Robertson is originally from Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire. He is the author of several short story and poetry collections, and has published six novels: The Fanatic, Joseph Knight, The Testament of Gideon Mack, And the Land Lay Still, The Professor of Truth, and To Be Continued…. He is also a co-founder of the Scots language imprint Itchy Coo  which produces books in Scots for children and young people.

In his latest novel To Be Continued…., Douglas Findhorn Elder is in a sorry state. He has just turned fifty, split up with his partner and jumped (before he was pushed) from his job at an ailing Edinburgh newspaper. On the night of his birthday, he makes an unexpected new friend: a talking toad. When a new work opportunity takes the man from the city to the Highlands, the toad goes with him…….

Chair: Jim Gilchrist

A madcap Highland adventure from the Booker-longlisted author of And The Land Lay Stilland The Testament of Gideon Mack

Douglas Findhorn Elder is in a sorry state. He’s just turned fifty, split up from his girlfriend and been pushed out of his job in an ailing national newspaper. On the night of his birthday, he makes an unexpected new friend: a talking toad. So begins a wild goose chase that will lead Douglas out of his cosy house in Edinburgh and across the country – all the way to crumbling Glentaragar House in the distant West Highlands. Awaiting him along the journey are a semi-criminal hearse driver, a hundred-year-old political firebrand grandmother, a split-personality alcoholic/teetotaller, an elaborate whisky-smuggling conspiracy, a mysterious woman with a rather enchanting Greek nose, and maybe even a shot at redemption…

In this gloriously surreal romp, James Robertson proves once and for all that the important things in life – friendship, romance, a very fine malt whisky – come when you least expect them.

 Sunday 9th October

THE LOCKERBIE BOMBING: THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE 2-3pm   LIBRARY

Kenny MacAskill needs little introduction being a well known face around Portobello. As an SNP MSP, he represented this area from 1999-2016 and was Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007-2014. At this event he discusses his latest book, The Lockerbie Bombing: The Search for Justice, which details his decision to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, on compassionate grounds. He sets it in the context of the commercial and security interests that have overshadowed events in the decades both before and after.

Chair: Alastair Cameron

On 21 December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 departed London Heathrow for New York. Shortly after take-off, a bomb detonated, killing all aboard and devastating the small Scottish town of Lockerbie below. Only one man has ever been convicted of the crime: Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, though few believe that he acted alone.

In 2009, a request was made by Libya for al-Megrahi’s release from prison on compassionate grounds after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The decision to grant or deny that request fell squarely and exclusively on the shoulders of one man: Kenny MacAskill, Scotland’s Justice Secretary from 2007 to 2014.

Detailing the build-up to the atrocity and the carnage left in its wake, MacAskill narrates the international investigation that followed and the diplomatic intrigue that saw a Scottish court convened in the Netherlands. He describes the controversial release of al-Megrahi, explains the international dimensions involved and lays bare the commercial and security interests that ran in the background throughout the investigation and trial.

Finally, he answers how and why it happened – and who was really responsible for the worst terrorist attack to have occurred on British soil before or since.

TSUNAMI: SCOTLAND’S DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION   12.45-1.45pm  

 LIBRARY 

Sunday 9th October

Acclaimed political writer Iain Macwhirter is one of Scotland’s most prolific and influential journalists. He is the political commentator for the Herald and Sunday Herald and writes regularly for other publications. He also been a prominent broadcaster for over 20 years having presented BBC political programmes in Westminster and Scotland. In Tsunami: Scotland’s Democratic Revolution he examines the shifting political landscape in Scotland in the light of the events of the past couple of years. Where are we now and what does the future hold?

Following on from the critically acclaimed Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won A Referendum But Lost Scotland, Iain Macwhirter casts his expert eye over the SNP’s victory in the 2015 General Election, which saw Scotland swept by an unprecedented wave of yellow. One of the UK’s most insightful political writers, Macwhirter examines the factors behind this result including the demise of the Labour party in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP vision and leadership, the growing dissatisfaction with Westminster, and the enduring passion for independence. Tsunami ends with Macwhirter looking forward to ultimately consider where Scotland, and the UK, must go next. Praise for Iain Macwhirter: “A truly important book, particularly at this moment.” ~ Andrew Marr. “A terrific book […] full of shrewd insights. I’d recommend it highly.” ~ The Guardian. “His writing and broadcasting on politics in Scotland have been the benchmark by which many of us judge our own, more modest, contributions.” ~ The Observer.