23 Sunday Jun 2013
Posted in Maggie
Do you have a literary novel in you? Have you written the first 5,000 words and a synopsis? Enter First Chapter for a chance to win the dream prize of every aspiring novelist: expert mentoring while you are writing your novel. Deadline 30th June 2013
18 Tuesday Jun 2013
Tags
Alexander McCall Smith, Barbara Pym, Excellent Women, Jane Austen, Jilly Cooper, Mavis Cheek, Reading, Waterstones
‘The Jane Austen of our day’ wrote A L Rowse. ‘I could go on reading her for ever.’ Yes, I know the feeling.
2013 is a brilliant year for fans of Barbara Pym; her centenary is being celebrated, and there are some splendid new editions of her novels being promoted, with introductions by popular authors such as Alexander McCall Smith, Mavis Cheek and Jilly Cooper. I found a table full of them in our local Waterstones, with a tempting offer for June…as Mavis Cheek writes, ‘Re-reading the entire canon, ten novels in all, has been pure bliss.’
It’s surprising (and reassuring) that Barbara Pym is so much admired by men, for much of the subtle comedy in her novels revolves around their not always endearing weaknesses and foibles. Do they recognise themselves and feel grateful that alongside the sharpness of wit there is tenderness and forgiveness to be found among the excellent women who pepper the novels?
Barbara Pym’s world is full of people like ourselves. Such a relief. No dungeons, designer living, desperate villains. But anyone who dismisses her as niminy-piminy has made a mistake. She’s never going to be up for the bad sex scene award, but passion of all kinds is there and not only among the young: self-deception, infidelity, unrequited devotion, romantic yearnings, cruel disappointment, misguided infatuation and homosexual love.
So as with Jane Austen, the novels may appear to be about the small doings of ordinary people, but they are lifted up into great and lasting literature by Barbara Pym’s extraordinary ear for the hidden tragedies as well as the small poignancies and comedies of our common experience. Such riches!
There’s a Barbara Pym Society centenary conference ‘Remembering Barbara’ at Oxford on August 30-September 1. It sounds wonderful. More details at http://www.barbara-pym.org
08 Saturday Jun 2013
04 Tuesday Jun 2013
Posted in Elizabeth, News, Seen lately
…but I stayed for the wide choice of panels, interviews and seminars. More than a hundred authors participated in over fifty discussions on almost every aspect of crime fiction from setting (Crime in the Country; Major Cities, Major Crimes, etc.) to character (Police Detective, Amateur, PI or Bad Guy: Who Makes the Best Protagonist; The Power of Authors: Are you in charge of your characters, etc.) to morality (Violence: Is it ever too much?; Moral Hypocrisy in Crime Fiction) to name just a few.
The weekend had several highlights. Barry Forshaw conducted an entertaining interview with Robert Goddard, an author I once enjoyed but have unaccountably stopped reading. There was a strong contingent of Scottish crime writers including Caro Ramsay, Denise Mina and William McIlvanney. The latter two were interviewed by Jake Kerridge on The Power of Tartan Noir. McIlvanney in particular was a revelation. Described as a ‘champion of gritty yet poetic literature’ and considered by many as the father of Tartan Noir (although he didn’t care much for that expression), he wrote among other things the three Laidlaw novels set in 1970s Glasgow which set the tone for writers such as Ian Rankin. McIlvanney spoke with great affection about Glasgow and its influence on his writing. He was also eloquent on the role of writer as ‘shapeshifter’ and the importance of inhabiting even the most unsympathetic of characters to dignify and humanise them.
I was pleased to meet some long-admired writers including Robert Wilson and John Lawton as well as to be introduced to several new ones such as Norwegian Thomas Enger. In addition, Jeffery Deaver gave a thriller writing seminar and the creators of the BBC’s Sherlock were interviewed.
Evening entertainments included a pub quiz, a cocktail reception during which the Crime Writers’ Association announced its first batch of this year’s shortlists (www.thecwa.co.uk) and a gala dinner with Robert Goddard as toastmaster.
All in all it was a great chance to schmooze with readers, other aspiring writers and published authors while gathering tips and inspiration along the way. And I came home with not one, but two bags, both filled to the brim with promising new reads.
ninevoices 