Claire Hennessy's Blog, page 30

Eagerly anticipating in 2013…

I did this last year and have managed to read almost all of the books on that list (one or two yet to come out), so here’s looking forward to what 2013 has in store!

Dystopian and/or sci-fi universes, often coming in trilogies

Currently untitled (Divergent book #3) – Veronica Roth

Requiem – Lauren Oliver

Shades of Earth – Beth Revis

All Our Yesterdays – Cristin Terrill

Scarlet – Marissa Meyer

Contemporary YA

The Moon And More – Sarah Dessen

Jane Austen Goes To Hollywood – Abby McDonald

Improper Order – Deirdre Sullivan

The Book of Broken Hearts – Sarah Ockler

The Immaculate Deception – Gareth Russell

Just One Day – Gayle Forman

The Lucy Variations – Sara Zarr

Isla and the Happily Ever After – Stephanie Perkins

Severed Heads, Broken Hearts – Robyn Schneider

Things I Can’t Forget – Miranda Kenneally

Five Summers – Una LaMarche

[If you're looking for more 2013 contemporary YA things to anticipate, this post is a post of wonder.]

Contemporary young teen/pre-teen

The Chocolate Box Girls: Sweet Honey – Cathy Cassidy

Ask Amy Green: Wedding Belles – Sarah Webb

Ask Eva (World Book Day book) – Judi Curtin

(untitled Jenny Q sequel) – Pauline McLynn

Marco Impossible - Hannah Moskowitz

Fantasy and/or otherwise spooky or weird (YA and older-kids)

Wormwood Gate – Katherine Farmar

Close Your Pretty Eyes – Sally Nicholls

Untold – Sarah Rees Brennan

Picture Me Gone – Meg Rosoff [actually no idea what category this will fit into, but 'weird' feels like a safe bet]

Invisibility – David Levithan & Andrea Cremer

Transparent – Natalie Whipple

Historical (kids)

Family Tree #1 – Ann M Martin

Friends Forever #3: The Mystery Tour – Judi Curtin

Grown-uppy contemporary books

He’s Gone – Deb Caletti

The Memory Box – Sarah Webb

Town and Country: New Irish Short Stories – Kevin Barry (ed.)

It Felt Like A Kiss – Sarra Manning

Wedding Night – Sophie Kinsella

Book-review post!

All YA this time around, including two I read a while back for the CBI Bookfest Recommended Reads, so held off on posting here ’til that came out. Print reviews are in italics, extra comments are… extra.

David Levithan – Every Day

Every day, A wakes up in a different body. For sixteen years, that’s all A has ever known – shifting from one person to another, taking over their body and life and trying not to do too much damage. But today A meets Rhiannon – the mistreated girlfriend of Justin, whose body A is inhabiting. And today A falls in love. What happens next is fascinating and wise and thoughtful and pretty much everything you would expect from a David Levithan novel. Despite the fantastical element, it’s still very much grounded in our world, with lots of musings on identity and love. Well worth reading.

Laura Jarratt – Skin Deep

Fourteen-year-old Jenna is scarred, psychologically and physically, from the car accident eight months ago that left her best friend dead. When Ryan arrives into town with his New Age traveller mother, he’s the one person who treats Jenna like she’s normal. He’s also the one the police suspect when a body is found. Jenna and Ryan’s burgeoning relationship is moving while still being realistic; the murder and its amplification of the town’s post-crash tensions make this debut novel completely gripping.

This is so very good. Told in alternating viewpoints, we see two vividly-realised characters and a love story that is both about connecting emotionally and being attracted to someone physically (really well handled). One of my favourite YA books of the year.

Natasha Farrant – The Things We Did For Love

A teenage love story unfolds against the backdrop of a small village in Nazi-occupied France. The war has not left Luc and Arianne untouched, but their blossoming romance is enchantingly hopeful. World War Two tearjerkers are not uncommon, but the elegance of the writing here and the lack of sentimentality make this a haunting and memorable read.

This is gorgeous. I don’t want to say too much but it is worth reading, and also worth reading without reading anything about what prompted the author to write it. So stylishly written. If you like Eva Ibbotson’s YA/adult novels, or Meg Rosoff’s books, or Adele Geras’s YA novels, this one is likely to appeal.

Some things I have loved recently…

Three things I have loved recently:

Jesus Christ Superstar in the O2 in Dublin (13 October), with Tim Minchin as Judas… so good! I really adore this musical, and hadn’t seen it in years, and this production of it is absolutely spectacular – all modernised, but done very cleverly, and the kind of thing you just get completely caught up in.

I had been excited about Liberal Arts for a while, based on it having Josh Radnor (Ted from How I Met Your Mother) as the main character, Jesse, and being about college, and when I saw the trailer, I was sold. This is a movie about growing up, about being thirtysomething and having college nostalgia and falling for a cute undergrad… but without being cheesy and middle-aged-man-fantasy-ish. It’s smart, it’s funny, and the cast is brilliant – Allison Janney steals the scene whenever she’s on-screen, playing Jesse’s former Romantic Lit professor. Elizabeth Olsen is absolutely super as Jesse’s love interest Zibby. She does a great job at being nineteen – the kind of bright, charming, insightful nineteen-year-old who makes sense as Jesse’s object of fascination (there’s certainly a kind of ‘enchanted by’ feel to it, rather than being ‘wow she’s hot’), but also at a completely different stage of her life to Jesse and not entirely able to see it. Also, there is delightful snarkiness about books, and arts degrees. Yay!

I was slightly terrified that The Perks of Being a Wallflower wouldn’t live up to the book, which I adore, but I think as adaptations go, it does a really terrific job. The voice-overs mean that some of the book’s best lines get in there, and there’s also some nice new details and lines that work well on-screen. The cast is superb (although it’s strange seeing Kate Walsh and Dylan McDermott in such background roles), and apart from occasional flashes of ‘Hermione what are you doing?!’ Emma Watson does a wonderful job as Sam. Loved Ezra Miller as Patrick, Logan Lerman as Charlie, and Mae Whitman as Mary Elizabeth. And the music is brilliant (always associate ‘Asleep’ with Perks, so glad they were able to use it, and Heroes!).

YA: not quite brand-new

This book by Michael Cart was first published in 1996. It is a history of YA literature, and it suggests that – gasp! – YA lit may have even existed before Harry Potter, before Twilight, before The Hunger Games. Which of course, it did.

I am younger than most, though not all, of the people who say, ‘There was no YA when I was growing up’. Not, ‘It was harder to find books for teenagers when I was one than it is today’ or ‘There wasn’t nearly the range of YA when I was a teenager as there is today’ or even ‘Even though there were books for teenagers, the perception was that they were all for young teens or pre-teens and older teens should be reading grown-up books’. Which might be reasonable things to say.

I think the reason it bothers me is two-fold. One is that I studied YA literature in college, and the origin of YA is placed at all kinds of points well before the last twenty years. Some would cite nineteenth century novels; I subscribe to the school of thought that looks at when teenagers began being marketed to as a specific category, around the 1940s in the US. If we’re claiming a ‘first YA title’ I’ll vote for Maureen Daly’s Seventeenth Summer (1942) over Little Women every time. And for S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders as the real kickstart, as very shortly after this there’s some of Paul Zindel’s best works, and Robert Cormier’s, along with Hinton’s later books.

The second reason it bothers me is that many of the books I read growing up weren’t brand-new contemporary reads (although I read plenty of those too) but books I’d found in second hand shops (oh, Chapters!) or in discount bookshops on holidays in the UK, or in the local library (where the teenage books were in a separate section in the Adult side of the library instead of in with the kids’ stuff). They had been published by UK publishers, there were recognisable teen-centred imprints, and they were teenage books from before I was born. Here’s a brief list, with dates, of some of the stuff I remember reading (some read in secondhand/library format, some widely available):

The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton (1967)

The Pigman – Paul Zindel (1968)

My Darling, My Hamburger – Paul Zindel (1969)

That Was Then, This Is Now – S.E. Hinton (1971)

Then Again, Maybe I Won’t – Judy Blume (1971)

The Chocolate War – Robert Cormier (1974)

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit – Paula Danziger (1974)

Forever – Judy Blume (1975)

I Am The Cheese – Robert Cormier (1977)

Hangin’ Out With Cici – Francine Pascal (1977)

Hey, Dollface – Deborah Hautzig (1978)

Jacob Have I Loved – Katherine Paterson (1980)

A Star for the Latecomer – Paul Zindel & Bonnie Zindel (1980)

Second Star to the Right – Deborah Hautzig (1981)

Dance on my Grave – Aidan Chambers (1982)

Waiting for the Sky to Fall – Jacqueline Wilson (1983)

The Other Side – Jacqueline Wilson (1984)

I haven’t included all of Judy Blume’s books here, though certainly you can argue whether something like Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970) is YA or pre-teen. Similarly, Paul Zindel wrote tons of books, as did Robert Cormier; it bewilders me when people who claim to be interested in YA are totally unaware of these guys. On this side of the Atlantic we had Aidan Chambers, still going strong, and soon after, Jacqueline Wilson pre-Tracy Beaker and the ensuing success with younger readers.

Many of the other books Cart talks about in his history of YA, the popular romance and/or career type books of the 1940s and 1950s, are ones I’ve never encountered. I imagine this is partly because many wouldn’t have travelled across the Atlantic (to UK publishers, I mean, not magically making the journey) and partly because books do go out of print or become harder to find; the longer the gap between a book emerging into the world for the first time and a reader looking for something in its category, the less likely it is that that particular book will be selected (unless it’s something hugely significant). If anyone this side of the Atlantic does remember older ‘teen’ books, do let me know. But these ones – these titles, some key in the history of YA, from the late sixties onwards – did make it over, or were here already.

I imagine/get the sense some were off-putting to actual teenagers by virtue of being in the children’s section, or perhaps thought to appeal mostly to younger teens, but many of these titles have the older protagonists and ‘edgy’ subject matter that we associate with today’s ‘edgy’ YA. I do also think that it was still much, much trickier to find YA books then than it is now, not to mention the cultural shift in terms of what certain ages mean for people. (If people leave school at sixteen or seventeen and it’s mostly for work rather than further education, that does lead to a slightly different notion of the teen/adult divide than a world where staying in school ’til eighteen and then probably going on to some form of third-level education is more standard.) So I can buy the ‘it was difficult to find YA books’, particularly depending on where you grew up. Or even not being aware of them then.

But… if you’re unaware that YA has a history that goes beyond the Potter/Twilight/Hunger Games phenomena, it’s really worth checking out some of these older titles. Especially if you write YA – not least because some of these are just really great YA reads. But also because writing in a field means that sometimes you’re considered an ‘expert’ on it, and it kills me when people who write YA don’t distinguish between the explosion of YA and the origin of it, between its success and its existence. It’s not as shiny and new as it seems.

Which means something else, too. Even if YA goes into decline after this incredible recent surge – and some people would argue the market is saturated already – it’s highly unlikely it’s going anywhere any time soon. YA itself isn’t a trend – it’s been around for a while.

Book-review post!

And now more reviews – all from Irish authors, curiously enough, and including one short story collection, two YA novels at different ends of the age-spectrum, aaaaand the latest Marian Keyes novel about the Walsh family.

Nuala Ní Chonchúir – Mother America

Super collection of short stories – lots of adultery and messiness and just beautiful intense moments or incidents captured on the page. The stories are clever while still being accessible, and there are some very interesting takes on historical figures (Assia Wevill, Ted Hughes’s post-Sylvia dalliance, speaks; Frida Kahlo is brought to life; there’s a modern-day Mary Magdalene of sorts). Although the author is Irish, the stories travel all over – especially lovely to see the New York stories. Very much enjoyed this book.

Denise Deegan – And Actually…

This is the third volume in the Butterfly Novels series, focusing on the ‘together’ Rachel this time. We’ve heard from Alex and Sarah in previous volumes, so now it’s over to the problem-solver of the group – who turns out to have a problem of her own. Haunted by bullying she experienced in primary school, Rachel is forced to confront her past when she finds herself working with one of her tormentors on the set of an Irish medical drama. The real-life emotions are mixed in wonderfully with the more glamorous aspects of acting, and it’s great to see Sarah and Alex’s stories continue in this volume as well. Really enjoyed reading this and seeing the girls’ friendship from this perspective – and even though the second book is certainly the saddest one, this has some tearjerker moments too.

Anna Carey – Rebecca’s Rules

Rebecca Rafferty is a ‘hollow shell of a girl’. Paperboy has departed for Canada with his family – and not only that, but Rebecca is guilty of having ignored her friends’ angst and suffering in lieu of her own hollow-shell-ness. There’s only one thing for it – to be a better friend and to do something new and exciting with Alice and Cass. The school musical seems like the perfect opportunity – but it’s there that Rebecca meets a new boy. He is Deep. And an Artist. And Soulful. And a pretentious git. The kind that can be mightily appealing (and intimidating) when one is a certain age. (I think one is supposed to grow out of it at some point – will keep you posted.) This is one of the best and funniest explorations of That Kind Of Boy that I’ve ever seen in teen fiction, and there’s a really good grasp on the small details of teenage life and how significant they can be. A superb follow-up to The Real Rebecca.

Marian Keyes – The Mystery of Mercy Close

I may have mentioned a couple of hundred times here that I am wary of hype. I kept hearing about how great this book was, in the couple of weeks leading up to the release date. Lots of praise. So I had high hopes for it, but also a kind of confidence that the book would live up to those hopes – oh, and it did. It did so very much.

Mercy Close focuses on Helen Walsh, youngest of the Walsh sisters. We first met her in Watermelon, seventeen years ago; she is now in her mid-thirties and has hit hard by both the economy and a bout of depression, but is still snarky and grumpy and talks back to Mammy Walsh and has a slightly askew take on the world. She’s a private investigator whose ex-boyfriend has recently taken over managing cheesy boyband Laddz (who, like the Walsh family, have featured in Keyes’ novels previously); there’s a set of reunion concerts next week and Wayne Diffney, ‘the wacky one’, has gone missing. Helen gets sucked into the case mostly for the money, but finds herself growing more intrigued by Wayne and his disappearance. The mystery is a satisfying one, taking us through the book alongside Helen’s own issues – dating a single father, working alongside her ex, wanting to kill herself. While Keyes has written about depressed heroines before (Lucy in Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Ashling in Sushi for Beginners, Lola in This Charming Man, two of the characters in The Brightest Star in the Sky) this does an extraordinary job at portraying both the illness and the responses people have to it (Helen has them categorised – her sister Claire is the ‘laugh it off’ variety, for example). But like those other books, it’s not just ‘a depression novel’. It is very, very funny – any time Helen adds anything to her Shovel List, for example, or any time Bella (her boyfriend’s youngest daughter) appears, or the portrayal of the musicians and other media types in the book (Maurice McNice! Frankie!). And it is very, very readable. One of the very best books I’ve read this year.

Bits and pieces from around the internet (well, where else?)

Sarah Webb talks about her writing day (I put in a request for this when she asked – I love hearing about people’s daily schedules and when/where/how people do their writing, the actual sit-down-write-stuff-now part. And Sarah is super productive.)
A Wrinkle In Time has been made into a graphic novel – the artist talks about the adaptation process.
Poet and creative writing/literacy teacher Dave Lordan talks about workshops and paying writer-teachers and why one should, basically. (He puts it better than that.)

Veronica Roth is always wise on writing things: she talks about writing seasons and also advice for young writers.
Kristin Cashore talks inspiration and ideas and why ‘where do you get the inspiration’ isn’t really the question to ask.
Finally, if this has got stuck in your head over the last while, you will appreciate this (and make sure to give it a moment).

Book-review post!

It’s been far too long since I did a book-review-y post here, yes indeed. Today we have a delightful mix of poetry, grown-up-ness, kidlit and YA. And another eclectic mix is on its way shortly.

Taylor Mali – The Last Time As We Are

Gorgeous collection of poems from Taylor Mali. Mali’s known for his performance more so than the poems captured on the page, but I really enjoyed reading these (especially ones I’d seen clips of him performing and could hear his voice throughout).

Cathy Kelly – The House on Willow Street

Cathy Kelly’s latest book is a cosy read – a small town shook up by a couple of new arrivals (and returns), a love story or two, warm friendships between women. Not my favourite of hers but a lovely read.

Kerrie O’Brien – Out of the Blueness

And more gorgeous poems, this time from Kerrie O’Brien, who writes about the ordinary and everyday in fresh and sometimes startling ways.

Carol Rifka Brunt – Tell The Wolves I’m Home

This had been recommended all over the place, and while I did enjoy it when reading it, it wasn’t The Best Book Ever for me. It is, however, really beautifully done; set in the eighties, it’s the story of a outsiderish teenage girl and her beautiful older sister and what happens to them after their beloved uncle dies of AIDS. It’s a really interesting read – touches on a lot of different things – and the setting is also handled well. Certainly worth checking out.

Elissa Brent Weissman – Nerd Camp

This is a book about nerd camp (gifted kids doing smart things over the summer while having wacky in-jokes and making new friends – thing of joy!). Of course I was going to love it. The author has taught at CTY, and it shows – even though the camp has a different name and also is more outdoorsy than programmes that take place on college campuses, it still has that certain feel to it. Kids of 9+ with more unusual interests will enjoy it – it’s pretty nerdy at times, but also has Gabe, the main character, getting up to lots of adventures and being a normal kid and trying to impress his future stepbrother (who thinks he’s at a different kind of camp). Really liked it.

Sarah Webb – Ask Amy Green: Dancing Daze

This is the third teen ballet book I’ve read this year, and I was a little worried it would cover what was beginning to feel like familiar territory. And while it certainly does address the inevitable issue of pressure in the ballet world, it is also very much its own story – engaging and engrossing and a little bit wacky whenever Clover is involved. Amy’s best friend’s sister is a ballerina with a company in Budapest; in the lead-up to a Dublin show Amy and Clover discover that there’s something upsetting the young dancer and try to sort things out for her. This problem is neatly woven together with some of Amy’s own issues through the use of diaries, and there’s a nice balance between the dance stuff and the ongoing threads in Amy’s life. I think it’s probably my favourite of the Amy Greens yet (although the last one, with all the Bailey stuff, was a bit heartbreaky and the third one has Paris…). Looking forward to the sixth and final title, out next year.

Poems of joy

In honour of National Poetry Day today, some links to (and musings upon) a few of my favourite poems:

‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ by T S Eliot is probably one of my very favouritest poems ever. I love Eliot’s poetry (though when it comes to ‘The Waste Land’ I kind of prefer Wendy Cope’s summary of it).

‘The Book Of Longing’ by Leonard Cohen is the first poem in his collection of the same name, which I’ve been reading ever since seeing him in concert recently. I love his lyrics and with the poetry you can almost hear his gravelly voice murmuring the words into your ear…

‘Not My Best Side’ by U A Fanthorpe is one of her best-known poems (I also adore ‘Growing Up’, which I was first introduced to in school, which has a lovely Emily Bronte reference).

‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy – because you have to have a Carol Ann Duffy poem in there. I love the precision of her work – it’s not overly-complicated or obscure but it’s precise and carefully arranged stuff.

‘What Teachers Make’ by Taylor Mali is one I love because it’s about, y’know, teaching and learning and all that other good stuff. I recently read his collection, The Last Time As We Are, and adored it.

‘Marginalia’ by Billy Collins is gorgeous (and you have to love someone who titles a collection Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes).

Other collections I’ve loved recently include Kerrie O’Brien’s Out of the Blueness and Sarah Maria Griffin’s Follies – debuts from two young(ish) Irish poets who write gorgeously. I will always have a soft spot for Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath, two poets I had to study for the Leaving Cert and managed to not-hate even after all that. I love Ellen Hopkins’s novels in verse, and Michael Rosen’s Sad Book is just perfect. I am not good with poetry, as such – there are people who think in poems, in beautiful fragments that can be shaped into something haunting and surprising – but I do rather like it, a lot. A lot a lot.

Snippets of wisdom from Mountains to Sea (part 2)

More on writing and publishing from last week’s Mountains to Sea Book Festival! Part 1 lives here.

Picture Books with David Mackintosh, Sarah McIntyre, and Chris Judge

- Back up your work! And don’t write on your illustrations. David Mackintosh noted that for translations, publishers will want to keep images as is, just change the text.

- Sarah McIntyre talked about the importance of finishing things, moving on, starting new things, finishing those. She also noted that so much of publishing is about personal taste, which the panel agreed with, but pointed out that if you keep going, success with later works can spark interest in earlier stuff as well.

- Both Sarah and Chris Judge emphasised the need to put in the hours, the work.

- Picture book submissions differ slightly from novel ones – you can package your work attractively, Sarah McIntyre notes, but sending glitter in envelopes is still not cool.

Publishing panel (children’s fiction) with Eoin Purcell, Elaina O’Neill, Helen Carr, and Philippa Milnes-Smith

- Elaina O’Neill advised to approach submissions like a job interview – always trying to get to the stage of the interview, then the job – and also really put yourself in the editor’s shoes. A short letter and a short synopsis are best. And you need someone really passionate about your work in the publishing house.

- Philippa Milnes-Smith spoke about the importance of getting the pitch letter right and being sure to read it out loud before sending.

- Helen Carr reminded everyone of some basics – spell the names right, make sure the letter is tailored to the publisher and people (both in the address and the body), don’t hassle people for a response, and be civil and polite to everyone at the publisher.

- Eoin Purcell cautions everyone to ensure their manuscript is genuinely ready for submission and will grab an editor right from the beginning. In a similar vein, Philippa emphasised the need to spend time working on and developing your writing – the most crucial thing.

- There was some talk about the pros and cons of agents – agents are problem solvers, handle the business side of things, can handle the money/business issues rather than an author (particularly useful if the author has a very good working relationship with the publisher). Depending on the publisher you may not necessarily need one – O’Brien have been very good at handling international deals, for example.

- The e-book chat happened, inevitably. The sense was that at the moment really it was ‘same content, different format’; still plenty more that could be done.

- In response to some crazy lady’s (okay, my) question about writers working in different age groups, Helen devised the beautiful phrase ‘the self-harm/baby lamb dichotomy’ (what to do when writers are writing for different age groups, with possibly very different subject matter). Ensuring books for different age groups go through a different editing process, and are released at different times, is useful. Helen also noted that with Eoin Colfer’s work, his stuff with O’Brien for younger readers hasn’t hugely benefited from his later success, whereas his stuff for 10+ certainly has. Philippa noted that with picture books, the author tends not to be noticed so much – it’s more the characters, the drawings, so not so much of an issue. Mags Walsh, who was chairing, reminded us of Julia Donaldson’s teen fiction, which tends to be underappreciated given the huge success of her picture book work.

- On self-publishing – it can be useful but only if there’s success there. Eoin noted the importance of proving yourself with it before approaching a publisher, developing your track record.

- On social media – Eoin said social media wasn’t essential, but some kind of internet presence is useful. Publishers will Google, and it helps to ‘control the message’. Helen noted the importance of being consistent, and Elaina pointed out that Twitter etc is very useful for writers communicating with each other, rather than necessarily readers. Do what works for you in terms of connecting with readers and make sure to keep on writing, was the general sense.

Kevin Barry and Maeve Higgins

- Kevin Barry talked about writing quickly, especially the first draft of his novel City of Bohane, which took three or four months; it was very intense but also he wanted to make sure he kept enjoying himself. If he’s not being entertained, chances are the reader won’t be.

- Maeve Higgins noted a sort of surprise at actually having a book, as with her stand-up comedy there’s a lot of making it up on the spot or responding immediately to events of that day, rather than having a script.

- Kevin does very little research – sees it as procrastinating, putting off the actual work. But he does eavesdrop and observe a lot.

And… think that’s it! From my own perspective it was lovely to meet readers at the Monster Book Lunch and elsewhere (unexpected encounters, hurray!); I also got to catch up with three former summer-programme students over the weekend which was a delightful bonus. And wonderful just to hang out with writerly-types as well, both before the Book Lunch and at different events.

On the kids’ side of things, Sarah Webb and Tom Donegan did a stellar job; must also mention Maureen Kennelly, overall curator, and all the others involved, including the team of volunteers. Really well-put-together festival, and an absolute joy to be a part of and to attend. Catch you all in 2013.

Snippets of wisdom from Mountains to Sea (part 1)

Much of my weekend was spent at the Mountains to Sea Book Festival in Dun Laoghaire, where I took part in the Monster Book Lunch but also picked up some snippets of writerly wisdom. It seemed perhaps like an idea to type them up (while I can still decipher my teeny-tiny handwriting…)

Publishing panel with Ivan O’Brien, Faith O’Grady, and Eoin Purcell

- Eoin Purcell notes that New Island get plenty of short stories and commercial fiction in, but not as much good literary fiction or non-fiction as they would like.

- Ivan O’Brien notes the difficulty in finding good writers for the 8-10 age bracket.

- Faith O’Grady says it’s still, ultimately, about the writing, rather than any particular trend/niche that she’s looking for.

- Ivan also discussed the subjectiveness of publishing – you might publish something that’s been rejected elsewhere, or reject something published elsewhere. It’s not a science (though it gets a little bit closer to that for non-fiction, he notes, where there’s a clearer sense of what to expect).

- Eoin and Ivan talked e-books and doing e-book editions of things also coming out in print – the consensus seemed to be that it’s not nearly as easy as you think it should be.

Tessa Hadley and Keith Ridgway

- Tessa Hadley talked about characters and how you can’t write real people – they’re ‘too sprawling’. You simplify what people are like.

- Keith Ridgway spoke about the ‘pre-planning’ bit – index cards and all kinds of stuff. Which is ultimately just a diversionary tactic and prelude to the actual writing. They both had more of a sense of ‘pre-thinking’.

- Tessa aims for 400 words a day.

- They spoke about teaching creative writing, or rather facilitating people learning to write. Keith notes it’s “kind of exhausting” reading and critiquing student work, sometimes rewarding but sometimes just exhausting. Tessa noted the way you get to know people, through their writing, even though you may have no idea what they’ve worked as or where they’re coming from or any of the more traditional indicators.

- Tessa gets input from both her American and British editor and incorporates all the feedback into one edition. Keith had a fairly light edit on his latest book, Hawthorn and Child, but polishes a lot before anyone sees it.

- Keith: “You have to risk something, in writing a book.”

- On ‘finishing’ a book, it seemed anti-climactic for both. Keith feels the gap between what’s hoped for and what’s there; Tessa notes the trickling-down of ‘finishing’ as the edits get smaller and smaller until finally you’re arguing over comma splices.

David Mitchell and Claire Kilroy

- David Mitchell is ridiculously adorable very good in front of an audience and read from a work-in-progress, from the point of view of a fifteen-year-old girl in 1984.

- When stuck, David writes a letter to himself about why he’s stuck. Suggests the degree to which you are stuck or not stuck is about perception. If you perceive something right, he said, you can’t not have ideas.

- Claire Kilroy discussed the “really slow and tedious” writing of her novels. She makes lots of notes, writes and writes and writes, before really getting into it. She loves endings, and they get written very quickly. Also noted, “the act of seeing your word count grow is a comfort”.

- Do they enjoy the writing? David: yes, very much so. Claire: yes, at the end of the day, when it’s done.

- David spoke about film adaptations (Cloud Atlas) and how films which interpret books rather than trying to be “audiobooks with pictures”. Also talked about writing different cultures and getting information across – you put into the text the things the characters take for granted, he says.

Okay, I seem to have a lot of scribbles here – let us reconvene shortly for Part 2!