Here's the wrap up post for W&R. We have a couple of months before Writers on Mondays start back up again (July 12th, programme announced in May) so you can look forward to regular posts on the sessions I get to. In the meantime these will have to hold you over. I've distilled the sessions to their most essential part of the conversation.
Grimshaw says she is most interested in didactic morals in her work, that she wants it to be more subtle. Looking at all sections of our society she doesn't see any of them as necessarily good or bad - there is no point in writing cardboard villains. Readers, she says need to have empathy for all characters to some extent, an author has to paint a portrait not write a lesson. Writers need to put the question correctly then let the readers come to their own conclusions.
What whooping when Neil Gaiman walked on the stage - he certainly has a devoted following. Poor Margo did well holding her own. They are both entertaining readers. I prefer Lanagan, I loved her Tender Morsels. The main assertion of the session was that there is no such thing as "Children's fiction" or "Young Adult fiction", there are only books that would be too boring for them and / or go over their heads. Both the authors and chair Kate De Goldi argued that there is no reason you can't deal with dark issues in kids books, in fact they usually like it.
I was disapointed with chairperson Jenny Pattrick's questions, most of which were quite lame. Gil's novel The Outlander began life as a poem, which never worked until it grew into a novel. I would have been interested to learn more about her poetry. She did talk about the dark themes in her poetry and using a somewhat surrealist method to access the subconscious, using games to break down barriers.
Simon Schama & Margo Lanagan
Poor Margo, Simon is such a diva he took over the session. Interesting quotes:
The future is a version of history and writing the past is perhaps always a fiction.
(I think perhaps Lydia Wevers the Chair said that?)
Historical certainty is first cousin to boredom.
(Schama)
Historians are always stabbing the horse they're riding.
(James Belich via Lydia Wevers)
A very charming and educated man. In fact I was so busy being charmed I hardly took any notes. There's an image above to distract me further. I'm a sad case.
Kevin takes delight in language - a poem is an event for the reader. There's an excuse for the use of multi-media if ever I heard one! The narrator of this video cracks me up but the poetry is good:
I'll close on that although I have skipped a few sessions.
