The month of August in Edinburgh bubbles with excitement. The International Festival, the Fringe, the Film Festival and the Book Festival overlap like a delicious millefeuille of culture infusing the senses with stimulating conversations and creative events.
The Book Festival, specifically, is a brilliantly curated collection of prominent thinkers.
Changing your mind
The theme of this year’s Edinburgh Book Festival was “Changing Your Mind”. Director Jenny Niven’s stated objective was “bringing amazing speakers and curious audiences together, around knowledge and perspectives that help us challenge our assumptions and see the world differently”.
With over 600 writers from 41 countries presenting their work, it is remarkable that the festival managed to convey a feeling of intimacy. People gathered in the courtyard and in the bookshop where strangers shared tables and exchanged conversations about writers and events they liked.
Having organised my visit poorly, I was unfortunately only able to get tickets to three events – but all the sessions I attended led me to think deeper within myself. Many events were sold out, which is rather encouraging in a society where free time potentially dedicated to books is now divided among a dizzying plethora of online activities.
Colson Whitehead’s Cool Machine
The first event was a conversation between Colson Whitehead and Samira Ahmad. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his books The Underground Railroad and Nickel Boys, he had come to talk about the most recent book of the Harlem trilogy, Cool Machine. The talk was held at the McEwan Hall, but despite the size of the venue, it was surprisingly intimate. Whitehead spoke affectionately about his “very cool” older sister who introduced him to the music of The Birthday Party. Cool Machine is a line from one of their songs, Release the Bats.
The final novel in the Harlem trilogy, Cool Machine follows furniture store owner and fence (receiver of stolen property) Ray Carney into 1980s New York. This book is a tribute to the vibrant Harlem scene of the 1980s, shaped by contemporary culture (punk, hip-hop, graffiti), and deftly navigates the themes of generational conflict, gentrification, policing and race. It expands the ideas of theft and ownership, questioning the concepts of possession and recovery of objects taken. Whitehead says he allowed himself to be funnier in this book, exploring both Ray’s changing life and the transformation of New York itself. His vivid descriptions owe much to his love of cinema, he says, charming the audience with his humour and self-deprecating style.
The Far-Right has risen
“The Far-Right has Risen”, showcasing books by Victor Mallet, Nikesh Shukla and Daniel Trilling, was a very different experience. The event could easily have lasted at least an hour longer, if not extended to a full day. The authors discussed the growing normalisation of the far-right in Britain, France and beyond. Frighteningly, viewpoints and opinions which were once considered shameful are now openly broadcast by presidents, making these ideas effectively more acceptable.
The French far-right movement
Mallet’s book was inspired by a series of interviews conducted across France – away from Paris where, he argues, like the failure to anticipate Brexit and the election of Trump, liberal elites even today remain complacent about the extent to which the far-right has gained traction in the country. Incredible blindness, he believes, since Le Pen’s party is now the biggest party in both the French and the European Parliaments, and particularly dangerous for Europe, if they are elected to power, along with the German AFD party.
A good immigrant from Bristol
Shukla shared a more personal experience, talking about his experience as a brown man in Bristol writing about the alarming rise of the far-right for over a decade. He spoke about his exhaustion with repeated warnings about the consequences of divisive discourse and anti-immigrant scapegoating in politics being ignored. He expressed deep frustration now, many years later, watching anger and hate become mainstream.
Reasons for the success of the far-right
Trilling’s research for his book directly connected the far-right’s success to the 2008 financial crisis, austerity, declining living standards and the failure of political parties to solve these issues. Compounded by the pressure of the climate crisis and increased geopolitical conflict, it is becoming more difficult for many to afford the basics. This unified resentment is currently being channelled by the far-right into a divisive narrative. Unfettered by regulations and plush with resources, social media platforms have allowed the communication, organisation and normalisation of these ideas, which are now being transformed, accelerated and given a terrifying intensity by a fragmented, algorithmically-driven media facing little resistance.
Trilling also condemned the defeatist attitude of the political parties, saying that his book aims to help understand how the space was created to allow the far-right to rise, and to show that a series of choices were made which led to the current situation. But also, that none of this is inevitable; other, better, choices can still be made to resist. Communicating better and taking advantage of opportunities, as was done with the cockroach party in India or, closer to home, the Clacton by-election where Nigel Farage was ridiculed for running against a bin, show that treating these extremist ideas as marginal is one path to their rejection, he suggested.
The role of technology and social media
Victor Mallet pointed out the role of technology and social media in the French far-right success. The first to have an organised database of their supporters, they have a vigorous presence on social media now where algorithms reward the anger, fear and outrage they seek to spread. Trilling argued that with most of social media platforms and legacy media owned by billionaires with rightwing affinities, there is an urgent need for regulation to protect the public from this epidemic of evil.
A call for resistance
All three authors stressed that the rise of the far-right is not inevitable, and other political choices can also be made. Many of those who vote for the far-right are there because they have been fed propaganda about immigrants, those facing poverty and other minorities. They were united in their call for stronger local communities, collective action and a broader political narrative centred on improving people’s material conditions and offering a genuine sense of belonging and shared purpose.
Clearly, they pointed out, there are opportunities in the division of far-right parties such as Reform, now attacked by Restore. Elon Musk, who had once been a staunch supporter of Farage, is now actively backing Tommy Robinson.
A call for a citizen’s movement against the far-right
“We need to make sure that the street we live on – online or offline – is a good street for ourselves and our neighbours”, said Nikesh Shukla. Local engagement is essential. He also recalled Lilla Watson’s famous quote: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
This recognition of a need for a broad public civil movement was a clear conclusion for all three authors. While acknowledging the danger posed by increasingly radical and violent movements, the panel ended on a cautiously hopeful note: political movements can fragment and decline, but resisting them requires active engagement, organisation and learning. The same modern communication tools that have helped the far-right grow can also be used to thwart them.
It will, however, the panel agreed, require active participation – more than simply posting on social media – of many citizens to resist against fascist forces.
The story of Yumna
Another very different talk, for a very different audience, was Yassmin Abdel-Magied discussing her new young adult mystery and fantasy novel, set in the fictional village of Silverbrook and centred on a curious young Muslim girl, Yumna, who dreams of becoming a detective.
She explained how the story was inspired by her love of rural mysteries, Enid Blyton, village dramas and a real English village she stayed at where a B&B owner supplied her with stories and local scandals.
A blending of sources
The novel combines detective fiction with a magical world influenced by Muslim jinn stories and Islamic traditions from her own childhood, while also exploring friendship, identity and the uncertainties of adolescence. Abdel-Magied spoke about the challenge of plotting mysteries, using cliffhangers to keep readers engaged, and balancing serious contemporary themes with adventure, humour and fun.
The discussion ended with her sharing plans for a sequel, inspired partly by her research trips to remote Scottish islands, and encouraging aspiring young writers to take risks, draw on their own experiences and simply give storytelling a try.
Books discussed:
Cool Machine, Colson Whitehead, published by Penguin Random House
Far-Right France, Victor Mallet, published by Hurst Publishing
The Good Immigrant, Nikesh Shukla, published by Little, Brown and Company
If We Tolerate This, Daniel Trilling, published by Pan Macmillan
Silverbrook: Yumna and the Golden Horse, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, published by Hachette
