I just got back from the most amazing trip to the Beijing Bookworm Festival. Thanks so much to the Bookworm and to the British Council for taking me over there, along with awesome short story writers Zoe Gilbert and Rachel Tresize. What a treat. Here's my report of the week's highlights, in bullet points. Meet Zoe and Rachel at Heathrow. Mutual … [Read more...]
Joan Wilder vs Palpatine, and a weekend of London lit fests
It was so exciting last night to see two huge characters from my childhood on stage together: Kathleen Turner, who I will always think of first as romance novelist Joan Wilder from Romancing the Stone, and Ian McDiarmid, the dreaded evil emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars movies. The play was Bakersfield Mist. Joan Wilder plays a boozy trailer … [Read more...]
Reading and workshop at the London Short Story Festival, 21 June 2014
I'll be reading at an event called 'The weird and wonderful world of short stories' alongside fellow reality-benders Dan Powell and Robert Shearman at The London Short Story Festival on 21 June 2014, 11am–12pm. We'll be chaired by Tania Hershman. The event is at Waterstones Piccadilly. Tickets are £8. Full event details and booking here. An hour … [Read more...]
Reading at the Literary Kitchen Festival, London, 20 June 2014
I'll be reading alongside Stuart Evers, Naomi Wood and Douglas Cowie at the Literary Kitchen Festival on Friday 20 June. The event runs 7–11 at The Peckham Pelican. Tickets are £5/£3 concessions. Full event details and booking here. The festival is on 16–22 June 2014, and includes open-studio workshops; readings from folk such as Evie Wyld, Adam … [Read more...]
Five things I learned at Small Wonder yesterday
At dawn on Sunday morning I drove down to Charleston, near Lewes in East Sussex, for the final day of the Small Wonder short story festival. The events were - as always - fascinating and diverse. Here are five things I learned there: 1 William Trevor used to be a serious sculptor. In a recorded interview with Small Wonder Artistic Director Diana … [Read more...]
Why can’t real life be like the Cork Short Story Festival?
I've just got back from the Cork International Short Story Festival and I have Post Literary Festival Separation Anxiety (PLFSA). It's so hard to leave a festival sometimes. Especially one as spectacularly warm and generous as this. Of course I missed Naomi and the boys like crazy while I was away, but when you spend more than a night or two … [Read more...]
My Edinburgh Book Festival experience in seven souvenirs
I just got back from three days at the Edinburgh International Book Festival where I was talking about The Stone Thrower at an event with Rodge Glass. It was my first time there and I was overwhelmed by the size of it. The EIBF camp on Charlotte Square is a mini-village with a market square in the middle filled with deckchairs bearing quotes by … [Read more...]
Loving the Zagrebians: a photo-caption blog
I just got back from a spectacular week at the Festival of the European Short Story in Croatia. A whole week of literary mayhem. So much fun. Here's my report, in photo captions: … [Read more...]