2013 Edinburgh International Book Festival

Riveting and horrifying in equal measure, Kristen Iversen’s memoir of growing up next to the Rocky Flats nuclear facility near Denver, Colorado describes the secrecy surrounding a plant which made plutonium warhead triggers for the US nuclear arsenal. Full Body Burden is a fascinating story of successive radiation leaks and cover-ups set against a coming-of-age memoir and in this event, recorded live at the 2013 Edinburgh International Book Festival, Iversen tells her story to Stuart Kelly.

Kristen Iversen at Edinburgh International Book Festival

Celebrating its 30th birthday in 2013, the Edinburgh International Book Festival brought 800 authors from around the world to Scotland’s capital city to take part in events on themes as diverse as Feminism Today, Memory and the Imagination, Making Music, Comics and Graphic Novels and Blueprints for the Future. Booker and Pulitzer prize-winners rubbed shoulders with bestsellers, debut novelists, scientists, philosopher,  children’s authors and illustrators and inspirational storytellers. You can hear some of the events here in our series of free podcasts – recorded live at the Book Festival.

Celebrating its 30th birthday in 2013, the Edinburgh International Book Festival brought 800 authors from around the world to Scotland’s capital city 