
Nicola Sturgeon is due to release memoirs at Edinburgh International Book Festival
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info
Former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon will launch her memoir at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
She will launch her memoir, Frankly, at the festival on August 14.
The festival has revealed a line-up for an expanded series, The Front List, between August 12 and August 24, at McEwan Hall, next to the main venue, the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Included in the line-up are Maggie O'Farrell and Ian McEwan, and also Gavin And Stacey co-creator and writer, Ruth Jones, who will discuss her new novel, By Your Side.
Writers RF Kuang; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; and Asako Yuzuki, winner of 2024 Waterstones Book of the Year; will also appear, along with Ally McCoist, who will discuss Dear Scotland: On The Road With The Tartan Army.
Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sentstraight to your messages.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny, will offer political insights, along with a-Nehisi Coates, Anne Applebaum, and Edward Wong, diplomatic correspondent at the New York Times.
More than 600 events will be announced on June 10, with participants from the United States, Japan, Russia, and Nigeria as well as the UK.
A spokesperson said: "We are thrilled to be launching Frankly, the highly anticipated memoir from Scotland's first female - and longest-serving - first minister, as Nicola Sturgeon shares the story of her journey from shy, working-class child to one of our country's most significant political leaders.
"We're joined by acclaimed and international writers, speaking about their careers and works. The luminous Maggie O'Farrell celebrates 25 years of creativity since her debut publication, and Ian McEwan looks back over his remarkable body of work and forward to what comes next.
"With the Trump administration continuing to unravel the last 70 years of established world order with breathtaking speed, essential political insight comes from The Atlantic columnist and author, Anne Applebaum, and New York Times diplomatic correspondent, Edward Wong, who together take on recent seismic political shifts and explore whether democracy can ever be truly protected.
"Poignantly, Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison last year, speaks about her late husband's courageous work, Patriot, and continuing his crucial activism."
Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
Jenny Niven, book festival director and chief executive, said: "We are thrilled to be returning to the beautiful McEwan Hall, and expanding our partnership with Underbelly to present 14 The Front List events in 2025.
"At this challenging moment in history and politics, we'll be offering a comprehensively informed and critical eye on international affairs, and also the chance to escape them through the work of some of the world's foremost fiction writers, entertainment, and sporting figures.
"There's plenty more to come in our full programme announcement, but we hope our line-up for The Front List offers a delicious taster of the many flavours and perspectives you can expect from this year's Book Festival events."
Tickets for The Front List events go on sale to the public at 10am on Tuesday May 6 and are available here.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Western Telegraph
23 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Zelensky condemns ‘brutal' rocket attack after four killed in Ukrainian city
According to authorities, a barrage of multiple rockets struck apartment buildings and a medical facility in the centre of the north-eastern city a day after direct peace talks made no progress on ending the three-year war. Mr Zelensky said one of the rockets fired at Sumy pierced the wall of an apartment building but failed to detonate. 'That's all you need to know about Russia's 'desire' to end this war,' Mr Zelensky wrote in a post on Telegram. 'It is clear that without global pressure, without decisive action from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who holds power, (Russian president Vladimir) Putin will not agree even to a ceasefire.' At talks in Istanbul on Monday, delegations from the warring countries agreed to swap dead and wounded troops. But their terms for ending the war remained far apart. Russian President Vladimir Putin (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) The war has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations, as well as tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides along the roughly 620-mile front line where the war of attrition is grinding on despite US-led efforts to broker a peace deal. Though Russia has a bigger army and more economic resources than Ukraine, a spectacular Ukrainian drone attack that Ukrainian officials said damaged or destroyed more than 40 warplanes at air bases deep inside Russia was a serious blow to the Kremlin's strategic arsenal and its military prestige. Both Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin have been eager to show US president Donald Trump that they share his ambition to end the fighting, thereby aiming to avoid possible punitive measures from Washington. Ukraine has accepted a US-proposed ceasefire, but the Kremlin effectively rejected it. Mr Putin has made it clear that any peace settlement has to be on his terms. A senior Ukrainian delegation led by first deputy prime minister and economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko has travelled to Washington for talks about defence, sanctions and post-war recovery, Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said. The delegation will meet with representatives from both major US political parties, as well as with advisers to Mr Trump, Mr Yermak added. Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who now serves as deputy head of the country's Security Council chaired by Mr Putin, indicated there would be no let-up in Russia's invasion of its neighbour. 'The Istanbul talks are not for striking a compromise peace on someone else's delusional terms but for ensuring our swift victory and the complete destruction of (Ukraine's government),' he said. In an apparent comment on the latest Ukrainian strikes, he declared that 'retribution is inevitable'. 'Our army is pushing forward and will continue to advance,' Mr Medvedev said, adding that 'everything that needs to be blown up will be blown up, and those who must be eliminated will be'. Ukrainians on the streets of Kyiv welcomed their country's stunning drone strike on Russian air bases but were gloomy about the chances for a peace agreement. The Russians 'won't negotiate peace with anyone,' said 43-year-old Ukrainian serviceman Oleh Nikolenko. 'Russia has invested too many resources in this war to just … stop for nothing.' Anastasia Nikolenko, a 38-year-old designer, said diplomacy cannot stop the fighting. 'We need to show by force, by physical force, that we cannot be defeated,' she said. Russia has recently expanded its attacks on Sumy and in the Kharkiv region following Mr Putin's promise to create a buffer zone along the border that might prevent long-range Ukrainian attacks hitting Russian soil. Sumy is about 15 miles from the Russian border. It had a prewar population of around 250,000.


South Wales Guardian
36 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Healey says UK ‘already makes huge contribution' to Nato
The Defence Secretary pointed to the UK's nuclear deterrent, and plans to make a 'bigger contribution' to Nato, as he sidestepped questions about suggestions that the alliance will set a 3.5% of gross domestic product military spending target. The Prime Minister has committed to spend 2.5% of gross domestic product on defence from April 2027, with a goal of increasing that to 3% over the next parliament, a timetable which could stretch to 2034. But Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte is thought to be pushing for allies to commit to spending 3.5% on the military, with a further 1.5% on defence-related measures, as the alliance responds to Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine. Leaders from the alliance will meet in The Hague later this month, with the total 5% spending target by 2035 on the table. Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Healey said: 'As the Prime Minister has said, Britain already makes a huge contribution to Nato. 'We've published a defence review that has Nato at its heart and I'm announcing today the new spending in this Parliament, £4 billion, doubling the amount that we'll put into drones. 'And we'll make a bigger contribution to Nato through that, and £1 billion over this Parliament to develop laser weapons, the first European nation in Nato to have laser weapons on our destroyers and then with our land forces. 'This is Britain leading in Nato, contributing more to Nato, just as we do, for instance, with our nuclear deterrent, the only country with a nuclear deterrent that commits it in full to other Nato nations.' The Prime Minister and Mr Healey have already come under pressure to spell out how the existing 3% goal could be met. Asked if he would be prepared to raise taxes to safeguard the nation's defence, Mr Healey said: 'We will deliver the spending commitments that we've made. I've got no doubt we can do that in the next parliament. 'We're already raising defence spending by £5 billion this year and now it will go up to 2.5% of GDP in just two years' time. 'Britain's never spent that level for 15 years. 'This is a biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War. The important thing is how we spend it.' We're investing nearly £1 billion into directed energy weapons and more than £4 billion in autonomous systems as part of our major £5 billion investment in UK defence innovation. We're boosting frontline capabilities while creating hundreds of skilled jobs across the country. — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 3, 2025 Downing Street refused to be drawn on the possibility of an increased spending demand, as the Prime Minister's official spokesman told reporters: 'The UK is already the third-highest spender in Nato in cash terms, behind the United States and Germany. 'We are one of 22 allies of the 32 in Nato that already exceed the 2% of GDP Nato target.' The Strategic Defence Review published earlier this week recommended a greater focus on new technology, including drones and artificial intelligence. The Ministry of Defence announced a £5 billion investment in the 'kit of the future', after the publication of the review on Monday. The funding includes £4 billion for drones and autonomous systems, and an extra £1 billion for lasers to protect British ships and soldiers. In addition to investment in drones and AI, the Government has announced an additional £1 billion for the development of 'directed energy weapons' (DEWs) during the current Parliament. This includes the DragonFire laser scheduled to be fitted to the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers from 2027, with a similar system provided for the Army by the end of the decade. DragonFire and other DEWs are intended to provide a lower-cost form of air defence against targets including drones, costing just £10 per shot compared with the thousands of pounds it costs to fire existing weapons.

Rhyl Journal
an hour ago
- Rhyl Journal
Healey says UK ‘already makes huge contribution' to Nato
The Defence Secretary pointed to the UK's nuclear deterrent, and plans to make a 'bigger contribution' to Nato, as he sidestepped questions about suggestions that the alliance will set a 3.5% of gross domestic product military spending target. The Prime Minister has committed to spend 2.5% of gross domestic product on defence from April 2027, with a goal of increasing that to 3% over the next parliament, a timetable which could stretch to 2034. But Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte is thought to be pushing for allies to commit to spending 3.5% on the military, with a further 1.5% on defence-related measures, as the alliance responds to Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine. Leaders from the alliance will meet in The Hague later this month, with the total 5% spending target by 2035 on the table. Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Healey said: 'As the Prime Minister has said, Britain already makes a huge contribution to Nato. 'We've published a defence review that has Nato at its heart and I'm announcing today the new spending in this Parliament, £4 billion, doubling the amount that we'll put into drones. 'And we'll make a bigger contribution to Nato through that, and £1 billion over this Parliament to develop laser weapons, the first European nation in Nato to have laser weapons on our destroyers and then with our land forces. 'This is Britain leading in Nato, contributing more to Nato, just as we do, for instance, with our nuclear deterrent, the only country with a nuclear deterrent that commits it in full to other Nato nations.' The Prime Minister and Mr Healey have already come under pressure to spell out how the existing 3% goal could be met. Asked if he would be prepared to raise taxes to safeguard the nation's defence, Mr Healey said: 'We will deliver the spending commitments that we've made. I've got no doubt we can do that in the next parliament. 'We're already raising defence spending by £5 billion this year and now it will go up to 2.5% of GDP in just two years' time. 'Britain's never spent that level for 15 years. 'This is a biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War. The important thing is how we spend it.' We're investing nearly £1 billion into directed energy weapons and more than £4 billion in autonomous systems as part of our major £5 billion investment in UK defence innovation. We're boosting frontline capabilities while creating hundreds of skilled jobs across the country. — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 3, 2025 Downing Street refused to be drawn on the possibility of an increased spending demand, as the Prime Minister's official spokesman told reporters: 'The UK is already the third-highest spender in Nato in cash terms, behind the United States and Germany. 'We are one of 22 allies of the 32 in Nato that already exceed the 2% of GDP Nato target.' The Strategic Defence Review published earlier this week recommended a greater focus on new technology, including drones and artificial intelligence. The Ministry of Defence announced a £5 billion investment in the 'kit of the future', after the publication of the review on Monday. The funding includes £4 billion for drones and autonomous systems, and an extra £1 billion for lasers to protect British ships and soldiers. In addition to investment in drones and AI, the Government has announced an additional £1 billion for the development of 'directed energy weapons' (DEWs) during the current Parliament. This includes the DragonFire laser scheduled to be fitted to the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers from 2027, with a similar system provided for the Army by the end of the decade. DragonFire and other DEWs are intended to provide a lower-cost form of air defence against targets including drones, costing just £10 per shot compared with the thousands of pounds it costs to fire existing weapons.