Edinburgh Book Festival 2010 is go

Charlotte Square is one of the most endearing relaxation zones in the middle of a buzzing city. Only made more welcoming by the glistening sunshine this morning, it was a perfect start for the Book Festival’s contribution to August in Edinburgh. And never shy of bringing controversial authors to the city, this year’s first morning saw organisers dive in at the deep end.

First up was Commonwealth-prize winner and booker-longlistee Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap (we interviewed him for our preview edition. You can read it here). The book has been called one of the most divisive to be in contention for the latter prize with some critics describing it as misogynist for the way it explores modern Australia. The country is presented through the eyes of its eight central characters, introduced at a barbecue in suburban Melbourne where the slapping of a child by a man not related to him causes controversy.

Tsiolkas was forthcoming in his criticism of his home country. He claimed that multiculturalism in the country was a thing of the past, saying that he had not been proud of his home country since the early 1990’s. He said that tensions between different immigrant groups were ignored, admitting that the book is harshest on his own generation because he thinks it is them who have most to be criticised for. His novel, he believes, is “very anti-romantic”, though there is a palpable tenderness between the women featured.

The controversy that The Slap has generated in the UK seems to be misplaced when Tsiolkas explains his rationale. He is a man passionate about those issues that he discusses, at the same time both friendly and warm and prepared to discuss them with audience members and, accordingly, he was received warmly.

Perhaps there was more to come as Phillip Pullman; the author of the dark trilogies (though there is another one in the making) discussed his latest book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ with former bishop of Oxford Richard Harries.  Surely an atheist and a member of the clergy would have a few arguments?

There was sparring. Unsurprisingly, the pair disagreed on elements of Pullman’s portrayal of Jesus as manipulated by institutionalised religion. But there was also a remarkable aura of agreement.

Both disliked the C.S. Lewis assertion that one could either believe in God or believe that Jesus was crazy, as well as having a remarkably amicable conversation about the resurrection and whether Jesus had literally risen from the dead, Harries saying that it was not necessarily a physical rebirth. Perhaps a bloodbath was never going to come, but those hoping for confrontation this morning did not get their wish.

Though new director Nick Barley was seemingly to be found everywhere you looked, this was more the buzz of the first day rather than an attempt to keep the peace. Everybody is just too chilled.