Sturgeon to launch memoir at Edinburgh International Book Festival

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.

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.”

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 at edbookfest.co.uk.