2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival

Is Tom McCarthy a J G Ballard for the 21st century? Or is he just bullshitting? McCarthy would probably claim he’s somewhere in between. The Man Booker shortlisted author’s hugely entertaining, densely imaginative novel Satin Island introduces us to U, a ‘corporate anthropologist’ commissioned to write an epoch-defining Great Report, only to be overwhelmed by images and information. McCarthy explains his ideas to Stuart Kelly in this event, recorded live at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.’