Brooding Glyn, whooar.

Weds contd

Audrey Niffenegger was funny and self-deprecating, it looked like a lot of book clubbers had come to see her in little clusters. I didn't feel like I got any deep insights about the process of writing from her but her visual art work sounds intriguing. Lynn Freeman got her talking about her time spent researching her second novel in graveyards, particularly Highgate cemetary, where she now works as a tour guide. Writer's equivalent of method acting perhaps?

Peter Singer and Rod Oram spent their session agreeing that we need to “do good”. I was mostly mesmerised by Sean Plunket sitting on the edge of his chair, swinging his head around and knocking his head piece mic. I would have liked to ask Peter Singer what he thinks we should do to combat “do good” fatigue – How do we sustain the level that is required to make change?

Chloe Hooper was replaced by Derek Johns and I am very ashamed to say I actually dozed off during this session! I've never done that before but there you have it. My only excuse is that I was up late the night before.

Richard Dawkins played to a packed house at the Michael Fowler Centre. He really was (if you'll excuse then pun) preaching to the converted. The session started with a 30 minute lecture from Dawkins which you could have got from reading some of his work. That was followed by some rather sycophantic, unchallanging questions from Bernard Beckett. I left as they opened the questions up to the audience but I heard it went on the same way. I was a bit dissapointed, it seemed too down pat and a bit lazy of Dawkins.

Thursday opened with Geoff Dyer talking with Emily Perkins. Emily asked good questions, they had a good raport on stage and he came across as very charming. He talked a bit about recording peak experiences in your life, about primal premeditated moments. What emotional luggage do you bring when you visit loaded places like memorials? His readings were humerous but although he is often called a “counter tourist” I got the feeling that he is really just another wealthy neurotic Englishman abroad.

I was looking forward to Glyn Maxwell as one of the (only two!) internationl poets this year and he didn't disapoint. He talked with Fergus Barrowman about form and rhyme and beats and how you need to know a lot about them before you can break them. He talked about having a happy childhood and the influence of Wales, how he just loved the sound of words, the musicality of them. Something you hear over and over again from different poets (musicality - not necessarily the happy childhood!). Perhaps if you have no dark obsessions you need to focus on musicality?

More sessions to come soon...