In this keynote lecture recorded live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival, the country’s foremost essayist and one of our most astute commentators, Andrew O’Hagan, speaks for the first time on the future of Scotland and seeks to define this moment of change. Brexit has fundamentally changed the picture. The question, O’Hagan argues, is now beyond nationalism: it is about Scotland’s potential as a progressive, exemplary, enlightened, international country of the future.

As part of our Outriders project to explore the Americas, poet Harry Giles travelled across Canada with Métis writer Katherena Vermette. Starting in Montreal amid the buzzy Quebecois writing scene, the two writers travelled to Winnipeg, where Lord Selkirk’s Red River colony was set up to house farmers displaced by Scotland’s Clearances. From there, the writers flew north to the small town of Churchill – known as the polar bear capital of the world. In this event, recorded live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival, they share some of their unforgettable experiences, and some of the writing inspired by the journey.

Journalist Julie Burchill calls her 'a breath of fresh air, with a dirty laugh'. In Everywoman, Labour politician Jess Phillips shouts long and loudly about the things she cares most about: poverty, equality, the rights of refugees and serving her Birmingham Yardley constituents. If you didn't know before why she's created such a storm in Parliament, you will after listening to this event, recorded live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival. 

Anyone who has heard Sebastian Barry read from his work knows he’s one of the best in the business. Anyone who has read Days Without End, his impossibly tender novel set in mid-19th century America, knows that it's another great work from the Costa Book of the Year-winning author and is surely in with a chance of bagging him another clutch of awards. This event, recorded live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival, is therefore an unmissable treat. 

Two years ago, authors at the Book Festival took part in a major study into the multiple inner voices that make up human consciousness. Now the leader of that project, psychologist Charles Fernyhough, has completed a major book on the subject, which he discusses with Richard Holloway in this event recorded live at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival. The Voices Within weaves human anecdotes with research to demonstrate how inner voices have a far more important role in consciousness than science has previously acknowledged.

Those lucky enough to witness David Millar’s spellbinding Book Festival event in 2011 will recall the athlete’s forthright admissions about calorie counting, secret doping and quirky camaraderie on the pro cycling circuit. Now he's back with The Racer, a love letter to racing and an unparalleled insight into the career of a Scottish cycling legend, which he discusses in this event recorded live at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival. No other rider has so successfully transformed himself into a charmingly anti-establishment communicator.

Dadaab Refugee Camp in Northern Kenya has existed for 25 years. Originally created for 90,000 Somalian refugees it now contains over 350,000 people, including 10,000 third-generation inhabitants. Over a period of four years, Ben Rawlence explored this extraordinary 'temporary' city, getting close to the realities of life for its inhabitants. In this event recorded live at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival, he discusses City of Thorns, a book that takes us beyond the shock headlines, offering testament to the frailty and resilience of humanity.

Already a wildly popular author thanks to her memoir Love, Nina and bestselling debut novel, Man at the Helm, Nina Stibbe returns with Paradise Lodge. Set in a 1970s ramshackle old people's home, this lovingly created story of chaos, love and elderly people is told from the perspective of a 15 year old girl who works there. If there's an heir to Sue Townsend, it's surely Nina Stibbe. In this event recorded live at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival, she talks to James Runcie.

In 2009, then Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill controversially granted the release on compassionate grounds of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man ever convicted for the Lockerbie Bombing in 1988. Now MacAskill has written his own account of the terrorist attack, the trial and the turmoil that has ensued. With forensic detail he explores the forces at play and why some questions continue to remain unanswered. In this event recorded live at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival, he discusses his contentious book with Ruth Wishart.

Philip Roth called it Edna O’Brien’s masterpiece; for John Banville it’s savage, tender and true; Claire Messud described it as arduous and beautiful. The Little Red Chairs is the work of a truly great Irish writer at the height of her powers. A decade since she wrote her last novel, O’Brien discusses an astonishing story that charts the consequences of a fatal attraction in this event, recorded live at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival.