ooks
Charlotte Square's finest
JENNY COLGAN Charlotte Square Gardens. 15 Aug. 12.30pm.
Back in the swirling mists of time (well, 1999), a wee Ayrshire lass named Jenny Colgan caused a big splash with her first novel
Amanda '5 Wedding. A light romantic comedy in the Bridget Jones/Marian Keyes mould. Colgan‘s debut became a talking point less for what its author was saying than for how much she was paid to say it. As Colgan reportedly received a six-figure advance, there must have been a lot of rapidly expelled breath and chinking of champagne flutes at HarperCollins when her masterpiece eventually made it onto the bestseller list.
The follow~up, Talking To Addison, appeared earlier this year. With its bright, sweetie-wrapper cover and catchy tagline (‘She‘s in love; he‘s inarticulatel'), the book — about a twentysomething florist harbouring an impossible crush on an internet nerd — did exactly what it said on the jacket and fairly flew from bookshop shelves.
So. after the success of Colgan‘s debut and the fuss surrounding her bank balance, was she apprehensive about how readers would react to Addison? ‘Not really,’ she says, ‘because I don‘t write the kind of novels that cause strong
Peter Carey x r; L...’ ""'i.,r v. ;\ '
I The Great Intergalactic Science Fiction Quiz " "
reactions; you either like them or f'
you don‘t. I don‘t think people are " ' ' M . I 1
going to go “Oh no, she hasn‘t ‘If I was Zadie Smith I might feel more pressure‘ "l “' l ‘ ' 1
written the great British novel", l4 r; r , , i‘ 1. . because I‘m a genre writer and light comedies like mine producers of Dawson ’5 Creek. ‘Writing a script wasn't a i" W 1' “1 l" l '1" don‘t even get reviewed much. If I was Zadie Smith, huge leap for me, because I find dialogue quite easy. “‘ ' ’ = ' 7 " ‘ ‘ trying to follow-up White Teeth I might have felt more There are pages and pages in the books that are i :' f ‘ ' pressure.’ nothing but dialogue. The only thing that worries me ,v, "
Colgan couldn't be further from the traditional image slightly is that a sitcom is a bit of a poisoned chalice at I '3" Rankin j. j. ‘. ll ,r of the tortured artist, crafting in her garret by the moment so I think I‘ll just call it a comedy-drama.” g5, ,mw. W i, 1,, .. 1, candlelight. In person, she is as breezin chatty as one At her forthcoming Book Festival appearance, the .i T, n” I], L M of her heroines. Having taken a circuitous route to former Edinburgh resident will be revealing all the , t r, a, M , ‘A ,y H "N, bestseller status — six years as an NHS administrator. secrets of the bestseller in an hour (yes, all of them). i j X ,j ,, ‘ 7.; spells as a stand-up comedian and cartoonist - she Having quit stand-up, does she enjoy this performing . admits to having never before been in the position aspect of her new job? ‘ ‘1 y' where she truly loved her job. ‘That‘s the best bit. I don‘t miss stand—up much, but Jo" Ronson I )‘r‘ {E 1 ' 7‘ I "‘
She‘s also extremely busy. Her third novel. Looking the lovely thing about the Book Festival is I can indulge “l” 5- "r" 7"" y " ’ '
For Andrew McCarthy, is out in October and she‘s my exhibitionist side without being shouted at to get my ‘ " ,l /" ‘ l ‘ working on a six-part sitcom, commissioned by the tits out.‘ Well, you never know. . . (Allan Radcliffe) ’ ‘ 1' ’ '1'” ‘ ’ '
i'x T' 4:" f ' r l ir’f’; l: ' PETER CAREY “ 'l' " ‘ CharlotteSquareGardens.11Aug. ' ' " _ ' 1'1' 7 ' " i Sam/i If. nu .
11.30am. ‘-1 " "- ' " ' ' ' 'i 7 ' ' " M " 2‘ « i ‘ " ' ' ' H ‘ lJenny Colgan i’:’;/"."',’:"‘ WK , ., r, a; , 4‘
/.‘ ll:. (4/, IJK/‘i' iH I Alan Sillitoe TW; :1 if: 9r of
y) i" =1». A , .’
I’,/i/{/ri{, V» ‘{l ‘ )bl I, t»'(/-'/-a / 11/.v’ Al/'A 1'... / 1 '1 1(4 .’: 1‘,r., f‘J} ,K/i
Carey writes with lucidity and a desperate humanity
20 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE ‘