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Live In-Person: Richard Osman
Friday 17th September, 8pm
The Man Who Died Twice is the second novel in Richard Osman’s brilliant, much loved Thursday Murder Club series. We are delighted that Richard will join us live in Edinburgh this September to celebrate and delve into this second story. It will undoubtedly be an evening filled with Richard’s trademark wit, warmth and wisdom – […] See more »
Save the Bees with Professor Dave Goulson
Friday 17th September, 8pm
Insects represent the overwhelming majority of animal species on earth, likely accounting for up to 90% of the animal diversity of our planet. They also power many of our ecosystems; acting as pollinators, waste disposal and pest control. Insects are so vital to our daily lives that esteemed American biologist E.O. Wilson famously declared that […] See more »
Live In-Person: Joanne Harris
Monday 20th September, 8pm
It’s an incendiary moment for St Oswald’s school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power: the gates are opening to girls. Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the […] See more »
Live In-Person: The Hebridean Baker, hosted by Joy Dunlop
Tuesday 21st September, 8pm
Coinneach MacLeod, otherwise known as The Hebridean Baker, has become a Scottish baking sensation. In his new book, he shares recipes for delicious traditional Scottish bakes alongside fascinating stories of island life, offering a true taste of Scotland’s wild and windswept Outer Hebrides. Focusing on small bakes that use a simple set of ingredients, these […] See more »
POSTPONED Live In-Person: Anna Jones
Tuesday 21st September, 8pm
Award-winning cook, writer and food stylist, Anna Jones joins us in person in celebration of her latest recipe book, One: Pot, Pan, Planet. Anna meets the growing interest in sustainable eating head-on; bursting with flavour, this newest collection of vegetarian and vegan recipes not only helps you to reduce waste and use up leftovers in […] See more »
Live In-Person: Elizabeth Day
Wednesday 22nd September, 8pm
We are delighted to announce an evening with Elizabeth Day for her new novel Magpie, a tense, twisting, brilliantly written novel about mothers and children, envy and possession, and the dangers of getting everything you’ve ever dreamed of. Elizabeth is the author of four novels and bestselling memoir, How to Fail. An award-winning journalist, she has written extensively for The […] See more »
Live In-Person: Ian Rankin on The Dark Remains
Tuesday 28th September, 8pm
Join us for a very special evening with Ian Rankin as we celebrate the publication of this extraordinary new book, which brings together two of Scotland’s most esteemed crime writers. When William McIlvanney died in 2015, he left a handwritten manuscript of Laidlaw’s first case tantalisingly unfinished. Who better to add the finishing touches than […] See more »
Live In-Person: Jim Sillars
Thursday 30th September, 8pm
One of the most well known Scottish politicians of recent decades, Jim Sillars, joins us for an evening in the bookshop. He will delve into his new memoir, A Difference of Opinion, which gives the inside story of his life in politics. Following years serving as a Labour MP in Westminster, in 1976 Sillars split […] See more »
Live In-Person: Fatima Manji
Friday 1st October, 8pm
We are delighted to announce an event with award-winning broadcaster Fatima Manji this Autumn in Edinburgh to celebrate the publication of Fatima’s new book Hidden Heritage. Throughout Britain’s galleries and museums, civic buildings and stately homes, relics can be found that point to a more complex national history than is commonly remembered. These objects, lost, […] See more »
RESCHEDULED: Live In-Person: Tim Parks
Monday 4th October, 8pm
Bestselling author Tim Parks follows the hair-raising journey of Italian revolutionary, Giuseppe Garibaldi, 250-miles on foot from Rome to Ravenna, to explore Italy’s past and present. In the summer of 1849, Garibaldi, Italy’s legendary revolutionary hero, was finally forced to abandon his defence of Rome. He and his men had held the besieged city for […] See more »
Live In-Person: Gyles Brandreth
Tuesday 5th October, 8pm
‘I am what my childhood made me.’ But what is that exactly, Gyles? Who are you? And why? In Odd Boy Out Gyles Brandreth provides an extraordinarily revealing account of growing up and coming of age in an apparently well-to-do but always strapped-for-cash middle-class English family. It is a story about the ordinary things – family life, […] See more »
Live In-Person: Jess Elliott Dennison
Tuesday 5th October, 8pm
We are so excited that Jess Elliott Dennison, founder of the much-loved Elliott’s on Sciennes Road in Edinburgh, joins us in the bookshop to celebrate her new book Lazy Baking. From the bestselling author of Tin Can Magic and Salad Feasts comes a brilliant new book dedicated to baking which is minimal fuss, yet comforting […] See more »
Live In-Person: James Holland
Thursday 7th October, 8pm
We are delighted to welcome the internationally acclaimed, award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster, James Holland, to Topping & Company Booksellers. We welcome you for an event to celebrate the publication of, Brothers In Arms. James’ latest book tells the untold story of one of the great WW2 tank regiments: The Sherwood Rangers. Covering thousands of miles and […] See more »
Live In-Person: Merlin Sheldrake
Friday 8th October, 8pm
The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. Entangled Life was, perhaps unexpectedly, one of the most talked about books of last year. We are delighted that author Merlin Sheldrake will join us for a live, in person event this October to celebrate its paperback release and the great success of […] See more »
Live In-Person: James Robertson
Monday 11th October, 8pm
James Robertson is one of our finest contemporary Scottish writers and his dedication to the Scottish literary tradition is unrivaled. The former Edinburgh bookseller and Edinburgh University student made his name translating children’s books into Scots, and since then has written many acclaimed works including Booker shortlisted The Testament of Gideon Mack and all-time bookseller favourite […] See more »
Live In-Person: Colm Tóibín
Tuesday 12th October, 8pm
We’re tremendously excited to announce that Colm Tóibín – three time Booker-shortlisted author, and one of our greatest living writers, will be coming to Edinburgh. We welcome you for an event to celebrate his forthcoming novel, The Magician. Colm’s latest book tells the fascinating story of another acclaimed writer Thomas Mann, and the contradictions that plagued his […] See more »
Live In-Person: Francis Spufford
Thursday 14th October, 8pm
We are delighted to announce a live in-person event with 2021 Booker Longlisted author Francis Spufford on Light Perpetual, which is proving to be one of this year’s literary highlights. November 1944. A German rocket strikes London, and five young lives are atomised in an instant. November 1944. That rocket never lands. A single second […] See more »
Live In-Person: Bernardine Evaristo
Friday 15th October, 8pm
We are so excited to welcome the incredible Bernardine Evaristo to Edinburgh for her new, powerful and urgent manifesto this October. Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker win – the first by a black woman – was a revolutionary moment both for British culture and for her. After three decades as a trailblazing writer, teacher and activist, […] See more »
Live In-Person: Colin Thubron
Tuesday 19th October, 8pm
In his 80th year, acclaimed travel writer and novelist, Colin Thubron, made a dramatic and ambitious journey along the almost unknown river that divides China and Russia. The tenth longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific, the Amur River forms the tense border between Russia and China. Thubron’s […] See more »
Live In-Person: Bimini Bon Boulash
Tuesday 19th October, 8pm
We could not be more excited to announce that drag royalty Bimini Bon Boulash will join us LIVE in Edinburgh this autumn to celebrate the publication of their new book, Release The Beast. An uncompromising East London queen, Bimini was undoubtedly the breakout star of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2. A riotously entertaining performer, […] See more »
Live In Person: Graeme Macrae Burnet
Wednesday 20th October, 8pm
We have another wonderful event scheduled with one of our favourite writers, Graeme Macrae Burnet. Graeme has visited Topping & Company Booksellers twice before, for Man Booker Shortlisted His Bloody Project and The Accident on the A35. “I have decided to write down everything that happens, because I feel, I suppose, I may be putting myself […] See more »
Live In-Person: Neil Oliver
Thursday 21st October, 8pm
Renowned archaeologist and TV presenter Neil Oliver joins us to celebrate his new book The Story of the World in 100 Moments. Oliver takes the reader on a global tour, reaching back in time to consider moments that serve as stepping stones to offer unexpected glimpses of the everyday of the ancients. Unearthing both the […] See more »
Live In-Person: Peter Bakes
Monday 25th October, 8pm
Peter Bakes is the first book by the youngest winner of the Great British Bake Off, Peter Sawkins. Peter won the coveted GBBO cake-stand in November 2020 with his imaginative, distinctly Scottish twists on baking classics. However, it was his unsurpassed flair for flavour, his witty, self-deprecating honesty, and, of course, his sheer passion for baking that made him an […] See more »
Live In-Person: Sarah Hall
Thursday 28th October, 8pm
Twice nominated Man Booker Prize author, Sarah Hall, will be joining us for a live in-person event in October to celebrate the publication of her forthcoming novel Burntcoat. We are extremely privileged to host Sarah for a novel that has been described as an electrifying novel of passion, connection and transformation from a writer of […] See more »
Live In-Person: Professor Andrew Pettegree & Arthur der Weduwen
Tuesday 2nd November, 8pm
Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes – or filled with bean bags and children’s drawings – the history of the library is rich, varied and stuffed full of incident. In The Library: A Fragile History, St […] See more »
Live In-Person: James Naughtie
Thursday 4th November, 8pm
James Naughtie, the acclaimed author and BBC broadcaster, joins us live to share his unique insight into the country that has fascinated him and drawn him across the Atlantic for half a century. On the Road is filled with anecdotes, memories, tears and laughter reflecting Naughtie’s characteristic warmth and enthusiasm. As a student, Naughtie watched […] See more »
Live In-Person: Mary Beard
Friday 5th November, 8pm
This November, we will welcome one of the world’s leading classicists to the bookshop. We are delighted that the brilliant Mary Beard will join us for a live event to discuss her new book Twelve Caesars. In this richly illustrated book, published in association with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Beard asks: […] See more »
Live In-Person: Nina Mingya Powles
Monday 8th November, 8pm
We are delighted to host an evening in the bookshop with Nina Mingya Powles for Small Bodies of Water, a book that has already won her the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize for nature writing. Nina Mingya Powles first learned to swim in Borneo – where her mother was born and her grandfather studied freshwater fish. There, […] See more »
Live In-Person: Richard Holloway
Tuesday 9th November, 8pm
Throughout his life Richard Holloway has turned to poets and writers for help in looking for answers to life’s mysteries, and for solace and guidance in the face of life’s challenges. In The Heart of Things Richard brings together those poems and words which have meant the most to him, whether they have been life-long […] See more »
Live In-Person: C. J. Cooke
Wednesday 10th November, 8pm
From bestselling author C. J. Cooke comes a brand new chilling gothic thriller set on the remote Scottish island of Lòn Haven. Upon the cliffs of Lòn Haven stands a lighthouse. A lighthouse that has weathered more than storms. Mysterious and terrible events have happened on this island. It started with a witch hunt. Now, […] See more »
Live In-Person: Lucia Osborne-Crowley and Alice Hattrick
Thursday 11th November, 8pm
We are so delighted that Lucia Osborne-Crowley, author of the acclaimed I Choose Elena, and Alice Hattrick join us to discuss their new books My Body Keeps Your Secrets and Ill Feelings. Though taking different subjects as their focus, both books offer profound meditations on gender, the body, and literary form. In My Body Keeps […] See more »
Live In-Person: Simon Heffer on Chips Channon’s Diaries
Friday 19th November, 8pm
This event has been rescheduled to the 19th of November. Acclaimed historian Simon Heffer will be talking about Chips Channon’s diaries, now published for the first time in unexpurgated form. A heavily abridged and censored form of the diaries was published in 1967. Only now, 60 years after Chips’ death, can the text be shared […] See more »
Live In-Person: The Art of Wild Swimming
Tuesday 23rd November, 8pm
From the authors of Taking the Plunge comes a brilliant new book on the where, when, how and why of wild swimming in Scotland. In this new book, Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan draw on the passion and knowledge of wild swimming communities to create a practical, adventurous and sometimes quirky guide to Scottish wild […] See more »
Live In-Person: Salley Vickers
Wednesday 24th November, 8pm
We are so looking forward to welcoming Salley Vickers to Edinburgh this November to celebrate the publication of The Gardener. When two sisters, Hassie and Margot Days, hire Murat, who has recently arrived in Hope Wenlock from Albania, to be their gardener, they unwittingly unleash tensions in the quiet English village they have begun to […] See more »
Live In-Person: Black British Lives Matter
Monday 29th November, 8pm
This November, MBE Marcus Ryder and barrister Alexandra Wilson join us to discuss this vital new essay collection. Black British Lives Matter is a response to the international outcry at George Floyd’s murder. Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder have commissioned these essays to discuss how and why we need to fight for black lives to matter. Recognising […] See more »
Live In-Person: Alexander McCall Smith
Thursday 2nd December, 8pm
We are delighted that Alexander McCall Smith joins us later this year for an evening celebrating his writing. This autumn brings three new books from Alexander, one of Edinburgh’s best loved writers and a great friend of the bookshop. They are: standalone novel The Pavilion in the Clouds, the latest No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency […] See more »