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Edinburgh International Book Festival Themes: The New York Times Series

Led by expert journalists and editors from The New York Times, we talk about the actions, decisions and revolutions that got us to where we are today, and where we could potentially go from here.

Edinburgh International Book Festival Themes: The New York Times Series

About Edinburgh International Book Festival Themes: The New York Times Series

The world has completely changed since The New York Times and the Edinburgh International Book Festival began our collaboration three years ago. So, there’s a lot to discuss.

Across five events – each led by expert journalists and editors from The New York Times – we talk about the actions, decisions and revolutions that got us to where we are today, and where we could potentially go from here.

We explore the latest advances in journalism, unwrapping the risks undertaken in the quest for truth; and after 20 years of the U.S. War on Terror, we discuss whether there can ever be a humanitarian justification for war. And as our planet heats up and sea levels rise, millions of us will be forced to move: what measures can we put in place to ensure our survival? We hear from some of the most interesting young voices in the fight against climate change, and talk about the power of words – from activism to literature – to change us, and how we view the world.

Broadcast live from the Book Festival, this series brings together award-winning journalists, leading writers and thinkers from across the globe to unpack the pressing issues shaping our world.

Visit The New York Times Bookshelf in our independent online Book Festival Bookshop to find books linked to the events.

Too Much Information?
Wednesday 18 August 19:15 - 20:15
Captioned
The downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014 was an event shrouded in misinformation. With reporters far from the location, misleading information put out by governments, and scant first-hand accounts, how did journalists determine the facts? Topography, landmarks and freely available social media posts proved to be the answer. Through forensic examination of photos and data, the journalists followed a trail that could pinpoint the location of the missile trucks that fired on MH17. Welcome to open-source intelligence: an approach being used to modernise journalism and shine a light where it can be difficult for reporters to tread. When there is a camera in almost every pocket in the world, journalists can embark on the kind of investigations only police and intelligence services previously had the capacity to undertake. But how far can publicly available data take us in the search for truth, and how does modern journalism balance the public interest with that of privacy? And can journalists be protected from these tools being turned against them? Join Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, and author Eyal Weizman, founding director of Forensic Architecture, as they unpick the questions at the cutting edge of modern journalism with Matt Thompson, editor of The New York Times's innovative investigations unit Headway.
This is a live event, with an author Q&A.

Out of the Hot Zone
Friday 20 August 17:15 - 18:15
Captioned
The effects of the climate crisis are far-reaching and disastrous: from unliveable conditions and resource scarcity, to economic collapse, political unrest, and war. Over the course of the next 50 years, between one and three billion people will be left outside climate conditions that have best served humanity for 6,000 years. We will be living in ‘hot zones’ and forced to dramatically rethink the way we live on this planet. But it’s not all bad news. Already, leading thinkers in history, agriculture and tech are coming up with imaginative and resourceful methods to protect our precious food resources, increase food sovereignty and reclaim agency within the food system. Traditional landowners are revitalising land management practices, diasporic communities are sharing knowledge with the next generation, and others are working to resist the major corporations who bear no consequences of their role in perpetuating the crisis. Assistant Professor Esther Ngumbi – an expert on entomology and food security; Mark Bittman, author of Animal, Vegetable, Junk, and Bruce Pascoe, author of Dark Emu, talk about how we can use sustainable food practices to reclaim our future.
This is a live event, with an author Q&A.

The Force of Law
Tuesday 24 August 19:15 - 20:15
Captioned
Nine days after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, then-President George W. Bush addressed a joint session of Congress, announcing the beginning of what would be known as the War on Terror. In the two decades since Bush’s address, the war has metastasized: millions have been killed and injured, and more than 30 million people have been displaced in the name and pursuit of ‘freedom’. According to late historian Howard Zinn, ‘what wars have in common is that they are based on an enormous deception: persuading the people of their countries that you can deal with terrorism by war.’ In recent years, the United States and its allies – including European nations – have embarked on ‘humanitarian intervention’ missions to varying degrees of success. Join Samir Puri, author of The Great Imperial Hangover and senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, BBC correspondent Nick Bryant and writer and journalist Tariq Ali with The New York Times’s Pentagon correspondent Helene Cooper, as they discuss whether intervention can ever be humanitarian, or whether we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
This is a live event, with an author Q&A.

Forces of Nature: Youth Voices of Climate Change
Friday 27 August 19:15 - 20:15
Captioned
According to research by the London School of Economics, the views of young activists are often dismissed as ‘generalised and generationalised’. But there is a growing coalition of young women around the world who are proving their detractors wrong. Highly informed about policy and activism, they are already burning misperceptions down, one campaign at a time. Armed with knowledge and the ability to mobilise thousands of their peers, these young women are taking a fresh approach to climate change, placing racial and social justice issues firmly at the centre of their work and activism. They have had to work hard – harder than others – to ensure their voices are heard because of their age, gender, race and class but are instrumental in the global movement towards climate justice. Join 24 year old Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, founder of Intersectional Environmentalist Leah Thomas, and UK ornithologist and author Mya-Rose Craig, as they talk about fighting for a future that’s worth living for with The New York Times’s Elizabeth Paton.
This is a live event, with an author Q&A.

The New York Times Book Review: The Power of Words
Saturday 28 August 20:15 - 21:15
This year is the 125th anniversary of The New York Times Book Review, a key part of the paper’s coverage of culture and news since 1851. Francis Brown, who edited the Book Review for 21 years from 1949, described it as ‘the period of Trollope and Dickens and Thackeray, of Whitman, Longfellow, Tennyson and Baudelaire, of Darwin and Huxley, of the Russians Turgenev, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy,’ among others. While these writers are still beloved today, the focus has changed. Criticism has played a vital role in shifting our perception of ‘literature’. It complements the reading that we do for pure pleasure, and provides us with another level of engagement and understanding. It can make us better readers: ones who are more open and adventurous. Today, join The New York Times’s John Williams as he speaks with some very special Book Festival guests who are pushing the boundaries of language, genre and style, and reinventing the craft to show what good writing – and reading – can do.
This is a live event, with an author Q&A.

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