Remember Wolverine in X-Men, shooting those wickedly sharp blades through his knuckles? ‘Does it hurt?’ Rogue asks anxiously. ‘Every time,’ Wolverine replies. Rejection is tough. It hurts. Every time. And of course, it’s your own fault, because you just keep trying. But there are things to be said, and it feels important to say some […]
So Jay Rayner appears at Hay. His audience of 500 people had paid £7 per ticket and he was given a flower in payment. That’s not ok. I absolutely and completely accept that this is not ok. And I admire Philip Pullman for resigning as patron the Oxford Literary Festival on the grounds that the […]
Yesterday evening, four W&N debut authors formed a panel at the tenth Chorleywood Literary Festival, organized by the wonderful Chorleywood Books. Catriona Ward (Rawblood), Colin Macintyre (The Letters of Ivor Punch), Laura Barnett (The Versions of Us) and I, chaired by Morag Watkins, talked about our novels, about getting published and about our writing […]
And before I say anything at all, I need to say that the London Book Fair is incredible. I’ve never been before. I may never get to go again. But walking into Olympia yesterday, clutching my pass in my hot little hand and walking in to this monumental hive of book activity as though I […]
So I had a launch party for The Ship. Before I got published, I thought launch parties just happened. But like so many things in life, you have to make them happen if you want them. At first I thought it would be interesting to get everyone to come to the British Museum with […]
