Oxford Literary Festival

As I lay in bed snoozing Ian asked, 'You do know it's 8 o'clock, don't you?' Yes, the changing clocks had made a fool out of me. I leapt up, cursing, and half an hour later was marching to meet my friends for a trip to Oxford. Grabbing a latte, I scrambled into the back of the car and we set off.



Don't be fooled by the chandeliers beneath the tent awnings. Book festivals have a lot in common with grungy music festivals. They both have portaloos and very expensive food: a fiver for two packets of crisps and two cans of soft drink. Thank goodness someone had the foresight to bring a flask of hot coffee. (Hello, Celine!)

Here's the stand of children's books. There was a lot of Pullman, Mal Peet and Meg Rosoff who were all appearing at the festival. Geraldine Mccaughrean, a few others with any vague connection to Oxford. The selection wasn't wide, but enough to excite these boys.

At 12pm I peeled away from my friends to go and listen to Meg Rosoff and Mal Peet talk about YA fiction in the JCR of Christ Church. They were introduced by Nicolette Jones who kindly stood to talk. Mal and Meg stayed sitting for the next hour, which meant I had an excellent view of Mal's left shoulder and the top of Meg's hair. It was a good job I'd seen them both speak before, so this time I could sit back and listen. They read from each other's work and chatted. Mal spoke about the 'subdued fireworks' and 'triumphant melancholy' of Meg's writing. Meg told us how the title of her novel 'What I Was' had to be changed from 'The Dark Ages' two weeks before the book went to press. During questions someone told Meg 'I think you're a good writer' but that she couldn't remember the name of the novel she was asking a question about. The same member of the audience described Hunger Games as 'quite enjoyable'. I sat at the back of the room, hugging myself and laughing quietly. Suzanne Collins, your most brilliant novel has the seal of approval from a parent in Oxford.

A heads up for us all: Meg's been reading a book from the States called 'Plain Kate'. She says the title is terrible but the book is brilliant. Let's watch out for it!

A snatched lunch and then we were off to see Hilary Mantel in the Sheldonian Theatre talking about her novel, 'Wolf Hall'. You may have heard of it. Hilary was a popular winner of the Booker Prize with this fat historical novel and it's one of those books that everyone has raved about. I am 50 pages into it and have never read anything else by Hilary Mantel. After listening to her being interviewed by PD James, I now want to read everything she's ever written. Hilary was truly charming. Her sparky intelligence combined with humility and honesty meant that we were hanging on her every word. She's a great public speaker. As a young woman she studied law and wanted to become a barrister, but ill health put paid to that plan. She became a writer, instead. Or as she put it, 'I became my own boss'. I like this take on writing.

She first had the idea for a novel about Thomas Cromwell in her twenties, but says that she had to wait until middle age to write it. On a practical level, because the launch of her writing career demanded something other than a historical novel. But on a creative level, she says she couldn't have written this book before her middle age. So often I hear about the way that writers don't really hit their stride until they grow older.

An hour flew by. As PD James commented at the end of our time with Hilary: 'We've heard from a great novelist talking about her craft. We'll never forget this afternoon.'

Hilary signed my dog-eared copy of Wolf Hall:




And that was our day in Oxford.