FESTIVAL BOOKS | Previews
PATRICK NESS Chaos Walking author launches new Young Adult novel at the book festival
If the memory of coming home from school and watching Buffy leaves you with a warm glow in your stomach, Patrick Ness’ new book is for you. But rather than being yet another ‘Chosen One’ story, The Rest of Us Just Live Here focuses – as its title suggests – on a group of high school students who exist on the sidelines of magical happenings. ‘A lot of people mention “The Zeppo” episode of Buffy,’ Ness says, ‘where Xander has his own adventure. This book is about all those kids who didn’t even get to speak a line, the ones who sat at the back of the class and just wanted to graduate without a giant snake eating them.’
Ness comments on the proliferation of ‘Chosen One’ books for young people; the Harry Potters and the Hunger Games of this world – even his own award-winning Chaos Walking series. In The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Mike and his friends are working up to the end of high school and tackling their ‘ordinary’ problems – unrequited love, neglectful parents, mental health issues – while other, more-lavishly named indie- kid high schoolers fight demons in the background.
‘Why do heroes and heroines tend to have slightly . . . let’s
say, unusual names?’ Ness laughs. ‘What about Mike, you know? Why doesn’t Mike ever get his own book? So in a way this is kind of the Book of Mike, because he deserves a book too.’ He’ll be launching the novel at the Edinburgh International
Book Festival, two days before the rest of the UK gets its hands on it. ‘I love Edinburgh,’ he says. ‘I’ve been there five or six years in a row, and it’s been sunny every single time. So I think I bring the sun.’ Here’s hoping. (Yasmin Sulaiman) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 25 Aug, 5pm, £4.50.
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JAMES DAWSON Young Adult novelist's three book festival events
CAROLINE CRIADO-PEREZ Campaigner discusses her feminist non-fiction work Do It Like a Woman GEORGE THE POET Spoken word performer influencing a new generation
James Dawson, former social, personal and health education teacher turned author, was drawn to YA for its potential to tell creative stories, tackle serious themes and advocate diversity. ‘[You can cross] the boundaries between contemporary, horror and thriller without worrying about where you’ll go in the bookshop!’ he says. ‘There aren’t any rules about what you can and can’t write.’ Since releasing his first book in 2012, Dawson has
not stopped writing. A mixture of horror, nightmarish fables and realism, his fiction includes a story of a haunted tattoo (Under My Skin), an updated ‘Bloody Mary’ myth (Say Her Name) and a holiday thriller (Cruel Summer). His latest book All of the Above (out on 3 Sep) leaves genre fiction behind, but still carries the fun and easy language Dawson brings to all his books. With seven titles under his belt in three years, it’s no wonder Dawson was crowned 2014’s Queen of Teen. Long may he reign. (Sasha de Buyl) ■ Best of the Brits: Celebrating our Young Adult Fiction, 27 Aug, 7pm, £7 (£5); Nightmare Fairy Tales, 28 Aug, 5.45pm, £4.50; Boys will be Girls and Girls will be Boys, 29 Aug, 6.45pm, £4.50. All events at Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888.
32 THE LIST FESTIVAL 20–31 Aug 2015
Human rights activist Caroline Criado-Perez is a champion of international feminism. Her 2015 book Do It Like a Woman . . . and Change the World is both a celebration of pioneering women and an exposé of female oppression across the globe. She describes the international focus as incredibly important, ‘the oppression women face around the world varies in both extremity and the way in which it manifests, but the underlying ideology is often the same: fear of women’s voices, of women’s power.’ She acknowledges the difficulty of picking which accounts made the final edit: ‘You could write this book a thousand times, each time with different women.’ One situation that particularly resonated with her was the women poets in Afghanistan. ‘Too often, the media presents Afghan women as passive victims. Their poems are a powerful riposte to this patronising attitude.’
The book covers ongoing campaigns for human rights and Criado-Perez emphasises that ‘we can’t cherry-pick our fights. Every feminist fight is important because we are fighting a structure here, and they are all connected.’ (Rowena McIntosh) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 31 Aug, 5pm, £10 (£8).
A lot has changed for 24-year-old George Mpanga in the past year. Not long after graduating from Cambridge University he was placed fifth on the BBC’s Sound of 2015 list, has been making music with the likes of Paolo Nutini, Emeli Sandé and Idris Elba, and been working as an adviser for the BBC Diversity Trust. His music oozes experience, discussing social enterprise, sharing views on better education, ‘the housing prices which are now in crisis’, and decent wages. This artist knows exactly what impact words can have, previously insisting that ‘rappers have so much power to do good’.
He’s at the book festival to spread the word
about a new project – his first book, Search Party. The title of this autobiographical poetry collection comes from the idea that ‘we’re all here looking for something, and my poems are my way of finding myself’, Mpanga says. With themes of empowerment and representation, Mpanga instils hope, promising us change. This wordsmith seems to have the power to
influence and bring people together. Erm – George The Poet for prime minister, anyone? (Tina Koenig) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 21 Aug, 8.15pm, £10 (£8).