29 Jun 2011
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Literary Events
Scottish Mortgage sponsorship at Edinburgh International Book Festival 2011
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC was
delighted to sponsor a series of events at the
2011 Edinburgh International Book Festival.
The 2011 Edinburgh International Book Festival ran from Saturday 13 August to Monday 29 August and offered a diverse range of thought provoking events. The Scottish Mortgage sponsored events enabled you to find out more about countries such as China, India and Russia that are developing rapidly and, in the case of China, forecast to be the largest economy in the world in the next few decades.
Scottish Mortgage sponsored the following events:
Wednesday 17 August
Martin Sixsmith – Analysing Russia, Country of Contradictions
For 20 years he was the BBC’s correspondent in Russia and later worked closely with key figures in government during Blair’s early years. Now Sixsmith is returning to his first love with Russia: The Wild East. He reports on a country of contradictions: a nation of cultural refinement which is also ruled by an iron fist. This detailed and riveting 1,000 year history shows how Russia’s complex identity has been formed and how it can help us understand its, often baffling, domestic and foreign policies. Chaired by Ruth Wishart.
Saturday 20 August
Siddhartha Deb & Angela Saini – Complex Truths about Modern India
Will India follow China to become one of the world's great powers of the 21st century? Many who live there argue that the answer is complex. Saini's Geek Nation asks whether the 'swots, nerds, boffins and dorks' of Indian science have what it takes to become a world force, while Deb's astonishing book paints a tender, moving and darkly comic portrait of a country whose people he describes as 'aspiring and deluded, desperate and hopeful, beautiful and damned'.
Thursday 25 August
Chan Koonchung – Stepford Wives, Beijing Style
Is it possible to live in China today, and to raise an eyebrow about the country's political ambitions? Chan Koonchung, resident in Beijing for a decade, has done precisely that with his political fable The Fat Years. A portrait of China in 2013, when capitalism in the West has self-destructed, this novel paints a vivid picture of a country whose citizens appear to be wholly satisfied. But why have they forgotten an entire month's history? Join Chan to discuss a novel that is banned in his home country but making waves abroad.
Friday 26 August
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Awards
The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Awards (formerly the Scottish Arts Council Book Awards) have been key to the promotion of Scottish literary talent. Past winners include Ali Smith, Kathleen Jamie, James Robertson and William Dalrymple. In today’s exciting event, four winners in their individual categories discuss their winning books, and discover who has won the prestigious Book of the Year award, worth £30,000. Join this year’s category winners Leila Aboulelah (fiction), Stewart Conn (poetry), Jackie Kay (non-fiction) and Sue Peebles (debut).
Sunday 28th August
Hisham Matar & Aatish Taseer – On Love, Loss and Lies
In Anatomy of a Disappearance, Libyan writer Matar tells the story of a boy whose father is abducted by his political enemies. It explores the profound impact this has on the boy's relationships. Meanwhile Taseer's new novel Noon tells the haunting story of a young man, Rehan, growing up in the dazzle of an emergent India with his mother and her new husband. But Rehan becomes increasingly drawn towards his father's life in Pakistan.
Monday 29th August
Mark Tully – India: 21st Century Superpower?
In his major new book, India: The Road Ahead, Tully analyses his beloved homeland’s growing role in the world. When it comes to writing with authority about India, there are few better placed than the Calcutta-born, Delhi-based former BBC man. His beautiful, incisive books have looked at the many faces of the nation from the untouchables of Uttar Pradesh to the skyscrapers of Gurgaon, and from the religious riots of Ayodhya to the biggest faith festival in the world in Allahabad.
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