Bookfest Blog #4: The Final Episode

Well, suddenly it’s all over, but my goodness, it was fun while it lasted. And the sun kept shining most of the time.

Since I last posted, I’ve done all these things, which is why I haven’t been posting:

• Attended the awards ceremony for the Kelpies Prize, which was won by Mark Smith for Slug Boy Saves the World. (Slug Boy being the world’s most rubbish superhero…)
• Chaired Frances Larson and Jacky Collis Harvey in an event on their books about severed heads (Severed) and red hair (Red). It certainly made an interesting combination, and having talked to them both, I’m looking forward to their next books, once they write them!
• Chaired Tony Juniper talking about What Nature Does for Britain; a look at the state of Britain’s natural landscape, which is very unusual in that it’s not all doom and gloom.
• Chaired French physicist Christophe Galfard talking about The Universe in Your Hand. Christophe used a visual presentation so arresting that no one in the tent will ever need mind-altering drugs in the future, and took us on a swift tour to the edge of the universe and back again. The audience loved it and bought every copy of his book in Charlotte Square.
• Chaired Professor Robert Winston talking about The Utterly Amazing Human Body to an audience of utterly engrossed children and parents. He showed some incredible high-tech film clips.
• Done my own science event, based on What Makes Your Body Work? as part of Schools Gala Day – great fun. We tasted jelly and chewed biscuits, tested our senses and confused our brains.
• Dropped into the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize event to watch children making star maps and robots, and getting covered in goo (which they loved, of course).

You’ll be amazed to hear that I managed all this without leaving anything on a bus, forgetting to turn up, getting the day wrong… I certainly am.

And now that the Book Festival’s over, and the tents are coming down, the real world beckons again… Back to teaching – and back to writing. I’ve been getting twitchy – it’s a whole month since I’ve done anything at all. Can I remember how to write? Watch this space.

Advertisement