Reviews & features: Camilla Pia

Interview: Nikita Lalwani at 2012 Edinburgh Book Festival with new novel The Village

Booker Prize-nominee inspired by visit to open prison in India

In 1998, Nikita Lalwani visited an open prison of convicted murderers in India, with the view to making a BBC documentary. What she saw there haunted her for years, eventually working its way out as The Village, the superb follow-up to her acclaimed…

Jane Harris

The author of The Observations and Gillespie and I on making Glasgow an evocative character

‘The secret was what I began with,’ says Jane Harris about her most recent work, Gillespie and I. And what a mystery we unravel, as narrator Harriet Baxter reflects on her time in 1880s Glasgow and the consequences of a chance meeting with ‘soulmate…

Alice Thompson

The Edinburgh novelist gets used to the spotlight

‘It’s a great honour to be asked to appear at the Edinburgh Book Festival,’ says Alice Thompson. ‘It’s like being knighted.’ And no one deserves it more than this Edinburgh-based author. Her fifth and most recent work, The Existential Detective, finds…

Allan Brown will discuss Inside the Wickerman

His batty book analyses the cult classic

Inside the Wicker Man is a cinema lover’s dream. The book is packed with fascinating trivia from the horror classic it explores, along with in-depth analysis and humour; and it’s a pleasure to find its author Allan Brown just as funny in everyday…

David McKee

Discussing the inner monster

‘They’re like my children,’ smiles David McKee, the creator of such long-adored characters as Mr Benn, King Rollo and Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. ‘You love them equally and they all demand attention at different times.’ The legendary storyteller and…

Broad Comedy

American sketch sextet with high aims

If Broad Comedy could achieve one thing with their work, what would it be? ‘Orgasm. Wait, we’ve done that.’ So says the charmingly cheeky Katie Goodman, an actress/writer/director who, along with her husband, playwright and actor Soren Kisiel, came up…

Drunken and semi-psychotic singer Loretta Maine set for Edinburgh

Dark musical comedy with sick bags not included

You certainly wouldn’t invite Loretta Maine round to dinner with the folks. The hilariously drunken and semi-psychotic singer/songwriter left school in Portland, Oregon, at the age of 15, and now tours a repertoire which includes such colourful…

Broad Comedy bring raunchy-but-smart female comedy to Edinburgh Fringe

American sketch sextet with high aims

If Broad Comedy could achieve one thing with their work, what would it be? ‘Orgasm. Wait, we’ve done that.’ So says the charmingly cheeky Katie Goodman, an actress/writer/director who, along with her husband, playwright and actor Soren Kisiel, came up…

Jon Fratelli returns to his roots and lines up Edge Festival show

Former Fratelli's frontman is solo and ready for the next chapter

For many it came as a bolt from the blue when much-loved Glasgow trio The Fratellis announced in April that they were to split. It was a break ‘for now’, they claimed, but following their frontman’s ventures into markedly different territory with…

John Aberdein - Strip the Willow

Think you can handle pressure? Try following an award-winning debut. John Aberdein kept a cool head when it came to writing Strip the Willow however, despite the huge anticipation for the novel as a result of excellent first offering Amande’s Bed. ‘Some…

Geoff Dyer

Merrily spinning a Thomas Mann-inflected yarn

The main man in Geoff Dyer’s smartly-penned fourth novel Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi has a pretty devilish sense of humour. And it would seem that the same can be said for the character’s creator. So what does he have in store for us with his…

Germaine Greer at the Festival of Politics

The writer joins the Future Scotland Debate on Sustainable Places

If anyone can get punters fired up about politics it’s Germaine Greer. Relations between MPs and the electorate are at an all-time low; kids can’t be bothered to get off the computer to vote; and our PM’s position is looking decidedly precarious. So…

Sequins and Shpiel with Rachael Sage

The New York wise woman's eclectic Fringe debut

Will Rachael Sage ever relax? The multi award-winning self-taught musician, singer and songwriter is currently working on her ninth record Delancey Street, amidst completing a steady stream of tour dates, overseeing charity projects, working on a remix…

Colm Tóibín returns to Charlotte Square

Irish Booker nominee to discuss his latest novel, Brooklyn

This multi-award-winning scribe has focused on a wide range of themes over the years with Irish society, living abroad, loss and identity being just a few. But one aspect to his writing remains constant: the emotional impact it has on the reader. Since…

Courtney Pine - Tradition in Transition

The pioneering saxophonist plays a one-night concert

Putting the meat onto the bones of jazz saxophone traditions

Andrew Sean Greer

No one can stop his California dreaming

With his recent impressive run in the literary world, it’s hard to imagine Andrew Sean Greer ever feeling edgy about his work. Since the release of critically acclaimed debut The Path Of Minor Planets in 2001, the San Francisco-based scribe has come up…

Omar Sosa

Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

Diverse, dynamic and daring approach inspired by Afro-Cuban folklore. You never know what Omar Sosa will do next. The Cuban-born virtuoso musician has turned his hand to everything from composing and arranging records to producing them, leading bands…

Scouting For Girls

Edge Festival

What a rollercoaster ride it’s been for this London-based indie pop outfit since ‘She’s So Lovely’ crashed into the top ten in 2007. Typical of their instantly catchy, mass-audience appeal, the single had four old school friends finally leaving behind…

Isoceles

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

This Glasgow-based foursome jump to the sound of the raging bull. Or so say their Japanese fans, according to glowing reviews reworked by one of the internet’s more established language translators.

Hot Club de Paris

They’ve been a little quiet of late but that is not to say this talented Liverpudlian trio haven’t been getting up to any mischief. Hot Club de Paris spent the summer writing and recording the follow-up to impressive debut ‘Drop It Til It Pops’…

Henry Rollins

It’s a wonder Henry Rollins has time to sleep. When the Black Flag legend is not writing books, hosting his own television and radio shows, acting in Hollywood and hopping from gig to gig, he is performing his quick-witted spoken word pieces around the…

Mother and the Addicts

After 13 years of stellar service to the indie scene, Chemikal Underground are throwing a party to celebrate their 100th release. Well, if you’d introduced the world to new music by acts such as Mogwai, Arab Strap, The Delgados, Bis and Aereogramme…

Golden Balls

Mark Dolan’s comedy debut was as a child in front of some drunks. Yet Camilla Pia finds that a love of the audience helps drive him on

Angus and Julia Stone

When they’re not being unreasonable or scrapping over ridiculous things, brothers and sisters can often make beautiful music together...

The Law

What is it they say about making it in the music industry? That it’s all about who you know...