Lucy Atkins's Blog, page 13
August 2, 2014
The Real Missing One – my uncle
Article about Uncle Des in the Guardian family section
When people ask if my book is autobiographical, I always say no – totally made up. Then, a month or so ago, someone asked me a direct question: has anyone in my family ever gone missing? I couldn’t believe I’d never thought about this before – my Uncle Des, who we all adored, went missing when I was 8 years old. Without knowing it, I’ve written a novel drawing on some of those feelings of loss and longing, of family secrets, and the unknown. My subconscious has clearly been very busy and my book makes sense to me now, in a way that it never did before. Weird, and also oddly satisfying.
My mum is still convinced Uncle Des is in an ashram somewhere so I’m expecting his facebook friend request any day now…
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/02/perfect-uncle-who-vanished-one-day
July 31, 2014
More Poetry Is Needed
Today, my Dad, who is 85, took us all to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition to celebrate my big sister’s birthday. This one caught my eye.
After a lovely lunch, we all said goodbye in the crowded street and my Dad, spotting the number 38 bus, turned and ran for it. We began to walk away, but then my sister and I hesitated, looked at each other, and squinted after him. He was skipping through the crowd like a 20 year old. We waited for a moment or two to check that he didn’t collapse. He waved gaily and hopped on the bus.
Poetry in motion.
July 25, 2014
Rainy Day Books
The Rainy Day Book lovers
Last night, I was invited to the posh Randolph hotel here in Oxford. It was the first time I’d set foot in this proud old dame since my 21st Birthday – yes, a lifetime ago. It was boiling hot, and I was nervous, because I was there as the guest of a group of book lovers from America. They were in Oxford for a literary tour – the latest inspiration from the well-known indie bookshop in Kansas City, Rainy Day Books. http://www.rainydaybooks.com and I was invited to talk about The Missing One, along with Cambridge author Menna van Praag.
I didn’t know what they’d make of me or my novel, which isn’t published in the States till February 2015. Feeling seriously shy, I told myself I could always just eat, smile, and slip away early. Vivien Jennings, the warm and sharp-eyed owner of Rainy Day Books, welcomed me in the lobby and ushered me into an overheated reception room. The first thing I saw among all the new faces was the USA proof copy of The Missing One.
I’d been consulted about the American cover design, and I love it. It’s so different from the British one – darker, more mysterious (and with whales! Whales, apparently, don’t sell in the UK, but red dresses do: who knew?). But I hadn’t seen it in the flesh and it felt surreal. Having lived in the States for a total of 8 years of my adult life I’ve bought a lot of American books, and there’s a definite design ‘feel’ to them that’s different from the feel of British books. As I weighed this American creation in my hands, I felt briefly overwhelmed: it seemed so ‘other’, I almost couldn’t believe it was my work.
The Missing One US proofs
The Kansas book lovers turned out to be warm and enthusiastic, intelligent, humorous and kind. And wonderful Vivien is a powerhouse - the last author Rainy Day Books hosted before the tour was Hilary Clinton and Vivien brought her granddaughters along, to show them what empowered womanhood looks like (as if they needed Hilary!). The next author at Rainy Day Books is John Cleese. Vivien knows the book industry, and writing, inside out and I could have talked to her all night about her life.
As I ate dinner in this most quintessentially British hotel – the very place where I celebrated becoming an adult, surrounded by these American readers each with a copy of my American book, I stopped feeling nervous and shy and I had this strange sense that something was completing itself. On this hot, sticky night in Oxford it felt as if two separate parts of my identity were yoking – the part that has been so happy and feels so at home in the States and the part that is rooted here in Oxford, the city where my children are happy. And it had all been brought together between the covers of my book.
There’s no place like home, but Rainy Day Books just shot to the top of my list of places to visit next time I go to the States.
July 21, 2014
Psychologies Book Club Virtual Launch
Join me and Psychologies magazine editor Suzy Greaves for the online launch of Psychologies’ very first book club. We’ll be talking about inspiration, creative life, the road to publication, families and secrets - and cars that blow up. You can join in, and if you want to you can email any questions in advance to Suzy.
1pm Wednesday 23 July.
Here’s the link: https://psychologies.co.uk/join-us-virtual-launch-party-psychologies-book-club
May 20, 2014
It’s a Book Club Video…
When I heard that The Missing One had been picked to launch the Psychologies magazine Book Club, I really was delighted. I’ve often read Psychologies, and have written for the magazine too over the years, so having Psychologies readers engage with my book is going to be amazing.
I’ve created a Book Club video here,https://lifelabs.psychologies.co.uk/
In it, I raise some issues and questions and themes that will get a Book Club discussion going. I talk about good and bad mothers, about gut instinct, and flawed characters. I also, perhaps unwisely, confess how many hours I’ve wasted looking at grainy underwater images on an ‘Orca Cam’, and I manage to look significantly scruffier than I do in this clever publicity pic.
I’ll be talking about all this – loss, creativity and self-expression – at the book club launch next week, at the brilliant Where The Light Gets In Philosopy Festival at Hay-on-Wye (Wednesday 28th May), along with Psychologies editor Suzy Greaves and creativity coach Orlando Murrin. You can buy a ticket here: http://howthelightgetsin.iai.tv/2014-programme/event-tickets/all-sessions/#date-block-140528
I’m really looking forward to meeting Suzy and Orlando – and of course all the smart, curious (in a good way) Psychologies readers who are brave enough to show up.
To find out more about the fantastic new Psychologies Book Club, visit: psychologies.co.uk/were-launching-psychologies-book-club
April 3, 2014
why I can’t stand the name ‘Chick Noir’
Here’s a blog post for Lovereading.com - ‘Going Going Gone Girl..’ blog post - about the Oxford Literary Festival, where I did a lively event (‘Chick Noir: why Gone Girl Has Us Hooked’) with the fantastic and very witty India Knight. The evening was made only slightly more comical by a male chair who apparently assumed that our almost entirely female audience must spend their days either in Sainsbury’s or reading Fifty Shades of Grey (or perhaps both? We never quite got to the bottom of that one. We had to get to Sainsbury’s before it shut).
April 2, 2014
The Book Doctor Will See You Now (Festival of Writing September 2014)
I’m already looking forward to September because I’ll be at The Festival of Writing in York, 13-14 September, 2014, talking about finding an agent, the journey from manuscript to publication and other writerly matters, with Stefanie Bierwerth, publishing director of Quercus books (you’ll want to meet her, she’s not only very nice indeed, she’s a powerhouse). I’ll be a Book Doctor too: you can reserve a slot with me and I’ll give you honest one to one feedback on your book, with my two hats on: author – and Sunday Times book critic.
Festival of Writing is a big, lively annual event organized by The Writers’ Workshop. It’s brilliant because it turns people with manuscripts into people with book contracts, agents and, ultimately, published books.
More details to follow.
Festival of Writing September 2014
Lucy will be at The Festival of Writing in York, 13-14 September, 2014, talking about finding an agent, the journey from manuscript to publication and other writerly matters, with editor Stefanie Bierwerth of Quercus.
Festival of Writing is a big, lively annual event organized by The Writers’ Workshop.
More details to follow
Killer Girls
On Friday 6 June 2014 come and join me, and ‘otherwise normal’ crime writers Kate Rhodes and Charlotte Williams for an event at Stoke Newington Library in conjunction with The Reading Agency. It’s part of the Stoke Newington Literary Festival and promises to be a gripping – if not slightly disturbing – evening, as we lift the lid on our twisted imaginations.
Here’s the blurb:
What drives otherwise very normal women to write about murder, death, suspense and all things criminal? Hosted by MJ McGrath, best known for her Edie Kiglatuk series, this panel of leading female crime writers looks at why good women write ‘bad’. Kate Rhodes, a prize winning poet, introduces a psychologist as the main character in her debut novel, A Killing Of Angels. Lucy Atkins, an award winning author and journalist, looks at strong female characters in her novel The Missing One and the lengths a mother will go to to protect her child. Charlotte Williams’ The House On The Cliff features a psychotherapist investigating a suspcious death.
http://www.stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com/snlf_events/killer-girls/
Killer Girls Night In
On Friday 6 June 2014 Lucy will be joining crime writers Kate Rhodes and Charlotte Williams at Killer Girls Night In, a Reading Agency event at Stoke Newington Library.
More details to follow.
