Monica Ali is a bestselling writer whose work has been translated into 26 languages. She is the author of five books: Brick Lane, Alentejo Blue, In the Kitchen, Untold Story and Love Marriage. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, in 2003 she was named as one of Granta‘s Best of Young British Novelists. She has been nominated for, amongst others, the Booker Prize, the George Orwell Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and in the U.S. has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She lives in London.   

“I’m thrilled to be returning to Braemar to talk about my new novel, The Violet Hour–a story of deception, betrayal and longing set amid the contemporary art world. I can’t imagine a better setting than the Fife Arms–with its extraordinary collection of art––for a deep dive into the novel’s themes. What is art for? What lies behind the drive to collect? What are the costs of failure and success? I’ll be pondering these and many other questions with the brilliant Tim Knox, Director of the Royal Collection.” 

James Cahill is an author, critic and art historian. His debut novel, Tiepolo Blue (2022), was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award and selected for H.M. the Queen’s Reading Room. His second novel, The Violet Hour, was published in 2025 to critical acclaim. He was the lead author of Flying Too Close to the Sun (Phaidon, 2018), a survey of classical myth in art from antiquity to the present; and he has curated numerous exhibitions on the relationships between ancient and contemporary art. He contributes to publications including Artforum, the Brooklyn Rail, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the London Review of Books and the Spectator. Based between London and Los Angeles, he is currently writing a book on David Hockney’s 1967 painting, Beverly Hills Housewife. 

Giles Coren is a restaurant critic and columnist for The Times. He has been Food and Drink Writer of The Year at the UK Press Awards, ‘Restaurant Critic of the Year’ at The Fortnum and Mason Awards and is an esteemed former laureate of the Literary Review’s coveted Bad Sex in Fiction award. He has presented such TV shows as The F-Word, The Supersizers Go…, Back in Time for Dinner, and Amazing Hotels. He has published three or four unremarkable books including a novel, some collections of hashed up old columns and a ghosted autobiography of James Dyson, the vacuum cleaner tycoon. 

“I’m delighted to take part in my local literary festival in the village of Braemar. The Fife Arms Hotel has attracted a wonderful array of writers to the village over the years and the 2025 festival looks fantastic.”  

Dr. Suzie Edge is a medical doctor, historian and bestselling author captivating audiences with her unique blend of medical insight and historical storytelling.  

With a background in surgery and an MLitt in Modern History, she brings a rare dual expertise to her writing, exploring the fascinating blend of bodies, death and culture.  

Her adult non-fiction books, MORTAL MONARCHS and VITAL ORGANS combine grisly detail with dry wit to explore how some of history’s most powerful figures lived - and died.  

Suzie also writes books for a younger audience, POO THROUGH THE AGES; WEE, SNOT AND SLIME THROUGH TIME and A HOLE IN THE HEAD. 

She lives in Braemar, Scotland with her husband, their two teenage daughters and their dog, Scout. 

“Since my caber tossing skills don’t qualify me for the Braemar Gathering of Highland Games I am more than happy to have the honour of tossing words about at the wonderful Braemar Literary Festival instead. “

Sir Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, film director and all-round national treasure.  

Fry has written and presented several documentary series, contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines, appears frequently on radio, reads for voice-overs and has written four novels and three volumes of autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and his latest, More Fool Me.

Fry’s Ties, the tales behind Stephen’s collection of ties, was published in November 2021For the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario Canada, during the summer of 2018 Stephen gave 13 presentations of his trilogy of one-man shows (39 performances in all) based on his book  Mythos. In the summer of 2019 Stephen toured 7 UK theatres with the shows. 

Tim Knox was appointed Director of the Royal Collection by Queen Elizabeth II in 2018. Prior to that he was Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. 

Brought up in Nigeria and Fiji, he studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and Patron of the Mausolea and Monuments Trust.  

He regularly lectures and writes on aspects of architecture, sculpture and the history of collecting. Publications include Sir John Soane’s Museum London (2010), The British Ambassador’s Residence Paris (2011) and The Rebirth of an English Country House: St Giles House (2018), with the Earl of Shaftesbury. 

“Having grown up learning herbs from her Mum, their family allotment and a well thumbed copy of A Modern Herbal. It felt a natural progression to study herbs to an academic level. During her studies she was working and living on a croft in the Hebrides. Now finds herself rather than cultivating plants she is to found out foraging with her two dogs for plants and fungi for food, cocktails and medicine Delighted! Excited for September.”

Natasha is an experienced and qualified medical herbalist in Western herbal medicine, forager and mycotherapist. 

Based in the heart of the Cairngorms in Scotland. Natasha has been practicing since qualified in 2013. Her passions are plants, dogs, food, nutrition and foraging. 

Having grown up learning herbs from her Mum, their family allotment and a well thumbed copy of A Modern Herbal. It felt a natural progression to study herbs to an academic level. During her studies she was working and living on a croft in the Hebrides. Now finds herself rather than cultivating plants she is to found out foraging with her two dogs for plants and fungi for food, cocktails and medicine. As well as teaching through walks and workshops as in-house forager for The Fife Arms she practices remotely at two Napiers clinics. She took part in the Wildbiome project 2023. Lead finance director for National Institute of Medical Herbalists. NIMH representative for the Global Alliance of Integrated Healthcare and Medicine.  

“ ‘S e urram a th’ann a bhith a’ leughadh ann am Bràigh Mhàrr anns a’ Mhonadh Ruadh, àite le dualchas fada sa Ghàidhlig – agus aon de na h-àitean as tarraingeach sa phàirt sa dhen t-saoghail.”

“It’s a real honour to be reading in Braemar, a place with a long Gaelic history – and one of the most beautiful parts of this country. “

Peter Mackay / Pàdraig MacAoidh is a poet, lecturer and broadcaster. He has two collections of poems, Nàdur De (Some Kind of, 2020) and Gu Leòr (Galore, 2015), published by Acair, and a pamphlet, From Another Island, with Clutag Press (2010). He writes in Gàidhlig and English, and his work has been translated into Czech, French, German, Irish, Occitan, Macedonian, Scots, Slovakian and Welsh. His academic work includes This Strange Loneliness: Heaney’s Wordsworth (2021) and Sorley MacLean (2011); he is a Senior Lecturer in Literature at the University of St Andrews, and has been an AHRC / Radio 3 New Generation Thinker. In 2024 he was appointed Scottish Makar. 

“I am thrilled to be taking part in the Braemar Festival. A literary festival in such a magnificent setting will be quite something.
Hills, sky, books - what more could one ask?”

Sir Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world’s most prolific and best-loved authors. He became a household name with publication of the highly successful No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agencyseries set in Botswana – a country where he has spent time and which he admires greatly. 

 In addition to this much loved series, his books include 44 Scotland Street novels, also published as a serial novel in the Scotsman newspaper –  the longest-running serial in the world; the Edinburgh-set Isabel Dalhousie novels, the hilarious von Igelfeld series and the Ulf Varg Scandi blanc novels set in Sweden. His latest addition is The Perfect Passion Companyseries. He also writes stand-alone novels, short stories, best-selling poetry, and children’s books as well as libretti, stage and screen scripts.  

David Nicholls is the bestselling author of Starter for Ten, The Understudy, One Day, Us, Sweet Sorrow and You Are Here. One Day was published in 2009 to extraordinary critical acclaim: translated into 40 languages, it became a global bestseller, selling millions of copies worldwide. His fourth novel, Us, was longlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction.   
On screen, David has written adaptations of Far from the Madding Crowd, When Did You Last See Your Father? and Great Expectations, as well as of his own novels, Starter for Ten, One Day and Us. His adaptation of Edward St Aubyn's Patrick Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, was nominated for an Emmy and won him a BAFTA for best writer. The Netflix adaptation of One Day was executive-produced by David. 

A British food writer and critic, Tom Parker Bowles won the Guild of Food Writers 2010 award for his writings on British food. He is well known for his appearances as a judge and critic in numerous television food series including MasterChef and for his reviews of restaurant meals around the UK and overseas for GQ, Esquire and The Mail on Sunday. Tom is also a successful author of 8 books.

“I’m chuffed to the cherries to be coming to Braemar Literary Festival, it’s bookish splendour at an acme and gorgeousness personified. To be in such lustrous company is a thrill supreme. BLF stands testament to Scotland’s pedigree class as a nation of book lovers, nay book worshippers – and rightly so. “

Michael Pedersen: is a prize-winning Scottish author, the Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University, and Edinburgh's Makar (Poet Laureate). His prose debut, Boy Friends, was published by Faber in 2022 – it was a Sunday Times Critics Choice and shortlisted for Best Non-Fiction at the Saltire National Book Awards. The Cat Prince & Other Poems, his third collection, won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Poetry 2023. Pedersen has also been shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry and won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. His work has been praised by the likes of: Stephen Fry, Bernardine Evaristo, Alan Cumming, Shirley Manson, Irvine Welsh, and beyond. His debut novel, Muckle Flugga, is fresh out with Faber. 

“The Queen’s Reading Room is delighted to partner with Braemar Festival once again and is much looking forward to a weekend of literary treats.” 

Vicki Perrin is CEO of The Queen's Reading Room: Queen Camilla's charity dedicated to promoting and celebrating the power and benefits of reading for pleasure. Through groundbreaking neuroscience, compelling content and charity outreach partnerships, they seek to harness the transformative power of books to make life better. Formerly in TV, Radio and live events, Vicki produced the BBC's '500 Words' competition and oversaw a million stories written by children around the UK.   

Executive Director of the registered charity, Women's Prize Trust, their mission is to change the world through books by women and open up pathways into reading and writing for the storytellers and booklovers of tomorrow. Named a Bookseller Rising Star in 2013, Claire worked as an editor, before moving into the charity sector. She was Head of Arts at BookTrust where she oversaw a portfolio of reading and writing initiatives before moving into consultancy for literary & media clients. Claire is a passionate advocate of the transformative power of reading and writing, and the ongoing need to invest in and cheerlead women. 

“My paintings take inspiration from the natural world, our relationship with it and the traces of memories it holds. Being commissioned by the Folio Society London to illustrate one of Scotland’s finest works of landscape literature – The Living Mountain, by Nan Shepherd – has been an honour. I am delighted to now share these works in Braemar: gateway to the Cairngorms, which were a lifelong inspiration for Nan Shepherd. “

Rose Strang is a Scottish artist who exhibits across the UK and Europe. In 2018 she became a professional member of the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA) and in 2020 was commissioned by Folio Society London to create paintings for their 2021 publication of Scottish literary classic, The Living Mountain, by Nan Shepherd. 

Times art critic Giles Sutherland -  on Strang’s Living Mountain series: 

A symphony of subtle essences, distilled experiences, fleeting memory fragments and deep, heartfelt lingering impressions …. *****  

Robert McFarlane, author of The Lost Words, The Wild Places and Underland. 

In Rose Strang’s extraordinary paintings, no focal point is privileged. These are intensely dynamic paintings. (From intro The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd, Folio Society London 2021).

“Scotland is a magical place and I don’t get to visit as often as I would like. I’m absolutely thrilled to be at Braemar with such lovely people. “ 

Esther Walker is a journalist, writing mainly for The Times, but also for The Sunday Times, the Daily Mail, i Paper, The Daily Telegraph, Grazia, Good Housekeeping and elsewhere. She is the author of a popular Substack, called The Spike and presents a weekly current affairs podcast with her husband Giles Coren. She lives in London with her family and her cat.