FESTIVAL BOOKS | Previews
WHO IS . . . DIANA GABALDON?
Diana Gabaldon is the Arizona-based au- thor of the Outlander books, a historical- fantasy time-travel mash-up series of epic proportions begun in 1991. Now into its eighth instalment, it’s amassed global sales of over 20 million copies and she’s appearing at this year’s Edinburgh Inter- national Book Festival
20 million? That’s impressive. Yes, and it’s increasing all the time. The latest book, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, beat Hillary Clinton’s latest memoir to the top of the American charts when both books were released in the same week earlier this year.
So, what’s it about?
Set in 1946, Claire Randall is an English nurse who travels to Scotland, stumbles through a portal and travels 200 years into the past, arriving in the middle of the Jacobite Uprising. Adventures ensue, and there’s romance too with rugged clansman, Jamie Fraser. Sounds pretty straightforward.
Ah yes, but Gabaldon explodes the simple set-up into a massive expanding canvas of characters, plots and time-shifts. She even has a series-within-the-series – a set of six more books which focus on the mystery-solving adventures of Lord John Grey, one of the side- characters in the main books.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it. It’s true, Gabaldon’s books tend to be of the doorstoppingly long variety (about 800 pages each, although one tops 1400). But Gabaldon is a genuine ‘fans first’ kind of writer, and her online interaction sets the bar for satisfying behind-the-scenes chat. It’s not hard to see why readers get addicted to her stories. Can’t I just Game of Thrones it and watch the TV series instead?
Actually, you’ll be able to soon. The pilot episode of a TV series based on the books just had its premiere at San Diego’s geekfest Comic-Con, and the series begins on US TV imminently. (Paul Gallagher)
■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 18 Aug, 3pm, £10 (£8).
38 THE LIST FESTIVAL 14–25 Aug 2014
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KIRSTY LOGAN & SARA MAITLAND Former List books editor's grown-up fairytales
What a difference a year makes. Last year, Kirsty Logan was living in Glasgow, publishing the occasional short story and poem, and she’d just been appointed books editor at The List. Fast forward 12 months, and she’s had to step down from List duties as her literary career has taken off. As well as notching up rave reviews for her debut book The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales, she's preparing book two, The Gracekeepers, which will be out in spring 2015. She’ll also be appearing at the Book Festival alongside Somerset Maugham Award- winner Sara Maitland – and she just got engaged to her partner Annie.
While everything in Logan’s garden is looking rosy (that also happens to be the name of Annie and Kirsty’s dog), her fictional world is an altogether stranger place. Lightbulb eaters, coin-operated children and lovers with clockwork hearts inhabit the pages of her grown-up fairytales, which Logan sums up as ‘quirky, vivid, lush, wild and magical.’ (Claire Sawers) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 21 Aug, 2pm, £7 (£5).
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KEVIN ELDON Cult comic turns poet biographer. Really.
‘It’s all a bit subjective isn’t it, poetry?’ asks Kevin Eldon, comedian and well-known face around cult television comedy shows such as Big Train and Brass Eye. ‘Well, everything is really. Subjective. Even that opinion.’ He’s discussing the poetry of his until-now unknown cousin Paul Hamilton, whose ‘biography’ Eldon has just released. ‘I suppose that for me, a rather flippant man, Paul’s poetry is perhaps a little “serious” for my taste.
It’s a bit intense. But I know a lot of people like that in poetry. They’re looking for that take on life which affects them on a profound level.’
Eldon would rather read John Hegley because he’s funny, although John Donne (‘pretty heavy!’) is
another favourite. ‘My favourite poem written by Paul is called Roadside Genocide,’ he says. ‘It’s about his horror at the phenomenon of roadkill. It makes me laugh a lot. I’m not sure that it’s supposed to.’ Paul, says Eldon, is ‘very committed to his art, t o the point of obsession, it could be argued. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.’
There have been rumours that Paul Hamilton doesn’t exist, that he’s a character assumed by Eldon, although conveniently Paul’s anger at Eldon’s ‘stitch-up’ of a book (‘Paul has a very set view of what was and what is, and that level of conviction has got to be admired’) won’t allow this theory to be tested. ‘We’re both booked but he’s refusing to share a stage with me,’ says Eldon, ‘so I’m afraid the appearances will have to be staggered, at his insistence. He’ll be reading some of his poetry and I’ll be reading some extracts from the book. It might be a bit of a chilly atmosphere. I hope not. Be nice to see you there.’ (David Pollock) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 16 Aug, 9.30pm, £10 (£8).