Despite the almost continuous rain earlier in the summer last Saturday when the
Edinburgh International Book Festival 2012 opened its doors the sun shone and it was glorious. People were sitting all around the lovely square in Charlotte Gardens chatting reading books,eating ice cream, enjoying the atmosphere and people watching - trying to spot their favourite author.
On the walkways there was a buzz as people rushed to join the queue for an event or strolled by to browse in the bookshops or cafes.
It is my favourite time of the year. A chance to catch up with lots of friends, writers from all parts of the country, to meet new people and to go to listen, laugh and be fascinated by the skill and imagination of the speakers.
In the famous authors' yurt, (green room) the great and the good, famous, not so famous and the first time authors gather before or after events. As the festival lasts for over two weeks and has something like 800 authors from all over the world, there are always new people to meet. This year sees the festival holding the 2012-2013 Edinburgh World Writers Conference, with special events looking at the role of literature around the world today.
On Saturday I caught up with other authors many of them SASsies - Nicola Morgan, Cathy MacPhail, Eleanor Updale, Elizabeth Laird, Julia Donaldson and Moira Munro, Keith Charters and crime writer Alex Gray. it is a place for families and I also met the Bookwitch and her daughter, and Mary and Gerry (the Mole) from Ourbookreviews and their lovely daughter.
I went into listen to the brothers Scarrow, Simon and Alex, both highly successful authors who decided that they might share some characters! So Alex was able to bring two of his brother's well loved Roman characters into his own book set in Rome.
The event was great fun with teams of three chosen from the young audience brought up to compete in a history quiz. Lots of fun and cheering ensued.
Monday the sun was still shining and I met up with Barry Hutchison and I went into the event on his new book the 13th Horseman, which made me realise just how much fun you can have with your characters!
Barry, along with Sally Gardner and Steven Butler were understandably nervous about an event called Story Consequences. Vivian French was the excellent chair person (and had control of the bell!) in an event where the three other writers were invited to start a story (character, place and emotion suggested by the audience) and keep it going for 30 seconds until the bell rang signalling that they had to pass it on to the next person, and so on.
Despite their reservations it was a riotous success and by the end of the event three very different, if slightly strange, stories had come to life. The audience got behind the authors cheering them on, and everyone had a great time.
It occurred to me that this might be an interesting challenge to try in the future, for writers, aspiring writers and in creative writing sessions with young people, too.
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| Story Consequences event |
This week also saw the Society of Authors in Scotland (SOAiS) AGM and lunch when we welcomed some new committee members Cathy MacPhail, Gillian Philip and Michael Malone and our new Scottish (SOAiS) chair Lin Anderson. It was also a pleasure get the chance to chat to the new Chair of the Society of Authors who had travelled up from London - Lindsey Davis.
I had a lovely surprise when dropping in to the yurt to find Keren David there, who introduced me to Amy Plum, a YA author who is American living in Paris and will be speaking at the book festival next week.
I will be appearing in the book festival this Sunday when I will be reading as part of the Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series on Freedom of Speech when I read Nasrin Sotoudeh.'s poignant letter to her daughter.
On Friday 24th I am looking forward to delivering my workshop 'So you want to write for Children?'.
On the following Tuesday, after the main bookfest closes there is the School Gala Day when Charlotte Square is closed to the general public and bus loads of school children fill the square to attend events with their favourite authors.
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| Sally J Collins |
I will be there with Sally J. Collins the illustrator of the Hamish McHaggis books and we will be joined by Hamish himself as we tell the story of the Great Glasgow Treasure Hunt
I love the opportunity to go and listen to all sorts of writers talking with passion about the books they have written and living close enough to Edinburgh I enjoy dipping in and out of the festival to see a wide range of events.
A couple I am particularly looking forward to are events with Jasper Fforde and Eoin Colfer.
So if you get the chance to come to Edinburgh in August come along to the book festival - go to some events and soak up the atmosphere. And keep your eyes open, you never know who you might bump into.
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Linda Strachan is an award winning author of over 60 books for children of all ages from picture books to teenage novels and a writing handbook Writing for Children
Ok, so you know how there are cloned Neanderthals in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series? And Neanderthal rights and culture are a rather interesting subplot?
Yeah, it looks like creating Neanderthal clones is actually a possibility these days.
Hat Tip to The Agitator for linking to the article...
Alright, I'm over at Geek Buffet today, totally agreeing with Roger Sutton's controversial post. TOTALLY AGREEING. You can go read it and find out why and disagree with me over there.
But, in light of that, I thought I'd review adult books today.
The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur Daoud Hari
Daoud Hari grew up in a village in Darfur. He went to college and then got a job in Libya. Lured by higher wages, he illegally crossed the border to find work in Egypt, then again to Israel, where he was caught.
When he made it back to Sudan, to Darfur, his people were under attack. Shortly after returning, his village was attacked and his brother killed. He fled with the other villagers to the refugee camps in Chad. Using is language skills of English, Arabic, and Zaghawa, Hari offered his skills as a translator to investigators and reporters.
He led 6 trips back to Sudan to help get the story of his homeland told to the wider world. Eventually, he was caught with a reporter and tried as a spy. American pressure to free the reporter freed him as well.
Hari writes a brutal account of Darfur, telling his story and many of the stoies he heard along the way. He makes an impassioned case for more help, and gives thanks for the help that has already been given. He also makes clear and concise work of an extremely complicated and nuanced political and cultural situation.
On sale March 18.
Full disclosure: ARC recieved from publisher through
LibraryThing's early reviewer program.
Lili: A Novel of Tiananmen Annie Wang.
FINALLY! A "
bad Chinese girl" novel that's well written!
Now, this doesn't take place in current boomtimes, but rather during the previous boomtime of Deng Xiaoping's newly opening China in the last 80s. (As the title gives away, it tends with the Tian'anmen Square massacre in June of 1989.)
Lili has just been released from jail, where she served three months for hooliganism. She's been a hooligan ever since she ran away from Monkey Village, where her parents were sent for reeducation during the Cultural Revolution. She joined a gang when she got to Nanjing. A man was stabbed to death over her.
Lili's a dissapointment to her parents, a wealth of wasted talent and unfulfilled promise. She moves in with a white guy who speaks flawless Chinese, but doesn't get China.
Part cultural exploration as Lili and Roy try to understand each other and their homelands, part self exploration as Lili tries to find meaning her life, Wang paints a stunning portrait of China on the verge of something massive. Fantastic!
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels Jasper Fforde.
Man alive, I read this one back in July. I also saw Fforde read the day after it came out-- hilarious!
So, this is the latest installment in the most excellent Thursday Next series.
It's been 16 years since
Something Rotten. The literary crime unit has been disbanded, so Thursday and the crew are now carpet installers (of course, investigating literary crime on the side.) She also has a profitable sideline in cheese smuggling. Not that Landon knows any of this. In the land of JurisFiction, Thursday's gone through a rash of partners. Her last one is the worst though, as this last one is... herself. Only, it's her fictional self, who's just a little more rock and roll than Thursday actually is.
Her son Friday has shown no interest in joining the Chronoguard, which is throwing time seriously into whack. And Goliath is about to turn
Pride and Prejudice into a reality show. Yep, the general public is about to vote the Bennets out of Longbourn, even before Mr. Collin's has it entailed onto him. But Thursday's not about to let that happen. Of course, she's having a much harder time book jumping these days...
Hilarious and awesome. If you like the series, READ IT. If you haven't read the series yet, WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU? Pick up
The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel today!
The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crime Jasper Fforde
This is the second Nursery Crime book, the first being the hysterical
The Big Over Easy. Jack Spratt and Mary Mary are back, this time investigating the suspicious death of Goldilocks on the grounds of SommeWorld, the new amusement park whose opening is beset with problems.
It looks like Goldilocks (an investigative journalist) was hot on a story of oatmeal quotas and bear rights. (And, of course, the debate over the right to arm bears.) The three bears were the last to see her alive-- which one did it? Or was there a fourth bear?
All the while, the psychotic Gingerbread Man has escaped from the hospital he was being held prisoner in, Punch and Judy have moved in next store, and cucumbers keep exploding...
Hilarious and filled with bad puns and nursery rhyme characters in adult situations. I love Fforde, and this is a shining example of why!
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Great so read lots of news about being at the EBF!
Fun for all - readers and writers! The best thing is seeing all those readers, just lying on the grass, chatting, eating ice-cream, and reading, while waiting to see an author or just, well, lie on the grass, chatting, eating ice-cream and reading! It feels very real. All book festivals have that feeling, I think. People coming together for one reason: books. But, ok, Edinburgh is a bit special :)
Hi Penny, Hope to see you up in Edinburgh next year!
You are so right, Nicola, a special place with a wonderful atmosphere that brings people back year after year.
The readers who come and listen, sit about reading, talking and enjoying books are the lifeblood of any book festival, but then we writers are readers, too!