The
last time Adam Thorpe was in the Spiegeltent he was doing an event
with Hilary Mantel (left), who was writing 'Wolf Hall' at the time. Adam
asked her what she was working on, and she said it was a novel about
Thomas Cromwell. “Oh”, Adam remembers saying sarcastically;
“that'll go down well”.
The
rest is history.
Given
that Charlotte Square Gardens is slap bang in the middle of
Scotland's capital city (which, in turn, is slap bang in the middle
of festival season), noise from the outside world sometimes slips
into the ambiance of the theatres. But this has always been dealt
with to great effect in the events I've been to. Danny Wallace said
of the rainstorm - “I have angered Thor”. Adam Thorpe said of the
sirens - “I specifically asked for these sound effects”. When a
plane flew very low over the Gardens, Stuart Kelly remarked - “you'll
always remember you were at the Book Festival the day war broke out”.
And, the other day, when a group of girls were heard squealing
outside the Main Theatre, an audience member leaned over and said to
me “crikey, you'd think Jacqueline Wilson was out there or
something”. Sure enough, when I went outside, there was Jacqueline
Wilson herself, talking animatedly to a group of eager fans. What a lucky guess.
Claire
Kilroy's gothic novel, 'The Devil I Know', was not supposed to
be gothic. But while she was writing it, the Irish economic situation
was dominating the news, which she heard through the radio. “ATMs
will freeze, hospitals will close. Go buy some tin peaches because it
might be the last meal you have in a while”. And, before she knew
it, her writing was reflecting that looming asperity.
Each
day at the Book Festival has been jam-packed with authors
performing readings of their work, be them funny, moving, haunting,
inspiring, or all of the above. But next time you hear a reading,
make sure you bring the original text along... because Karen Campbell
has confessed to occasionally self-editing as she reads out her work
to an audience! I wonder if any other Book Festival authors do this.
Let's keep a very sharp eye out. And if you catch someone doing it,
heckle! Loudly.
(Don't.)
(I
said don't!)
