www.list.co.uk/books
‘ALL MY MISTAKES ' , LED ME TO THIS lit *3
:4th BEST~BOOK§§EVENTSW ‘
9
J". ‘v
‘
i..
‘ ‘ l . v
.' . '1‘ ' " ’1' - s...1..:srr1 fey.
A slice of luck and a lot of graft have resulted in Chris Killen getting his debut novel published. David Pollock talks to the Waterstone's worker hitting literary paydirt
s with many readers of a certain young age.
(‘hris Killen made formative connections with
the cult lictions ol' (‘harles Bukowski. John l’ante and Richard Brautigan. When he started writing seriously at the age of IS. though. he imitated his heroes with what he describes as ‘a quite corny version of the American low-lil'e vernacular". Yet now. the 27-year—old Killen has managed to subvert their style to his own insouciant and particularly British will. like all the best cult novelists. there's also an element of good fortune to his story. of talent winning through against the odds. ()r. it not the odds. certainly the fact that his debut novel I'lu' Bird Room is being published thanks to a chance bookstore discovery. despite Killen not having an agent.
‘I met the author Steven Hall while I was at work in Waterstone‘s in Manchester.‘ he says. ‘He had just published The Raw Shark Tum through (‘anongate and we got chatting at an event to promote it. Then he came in again as a customer. when he kindly ol’l‘ered to read my manuscript. liked it and passed it onto his editor at Canongate. who is now my editor.‘ There‘s a certain l‘ait accompli to that tale. although Killen has years of hard practice and study behind him. first at Nottingham Trent University in his home city. and then on the creative writing MA at Manchester University. ‘I always felt a certain l‘rustration.‘ he says of his earlier attempts to write. ‘I never quite got it right. There were loads ol‘ times where I‘d start writing. go for about two or three thousand words and just give tip. unable to express what I wanted to say.
Looking back. though. it's certainly been a process of
development. where all the mistakes I made led me to write this book. The MA was a great help too. not necessarily in terms of the teaching. but because I was surrounded by other writers for the first time. That‘s where I started writing 'I'lu' Ilinl Room. and I knew when I'd hit the right tone: the lirst chapter I wrote is still the lirst chapter in the book.~
The Bird Run/II consists of two distinct narrative threads. the first an out-ol-sequence account of a young couple‘s relationship and how. from the boyfriend's lirst-person perspective. ‘it‘s destroyed through irrational jealousy and paranoia’. lilsewhere. a young woman called (‘laire reinvents herself as Helen. having dyed her hair and ‘started telling hersell' she‘s an actress even though the work she‘s getting involves answering ads on adult contact sites and meeting men who lilm her doing seedy things l‘or not very much money.~ Killen happily says he’s used that lirst novel method of drawing heavily on his own experiences and emotions within the book. although taken to extremes in places.
(‘urrently he's working on his second novel. provisionally entitled Indoor l’irt'ii-urks. which concerns two awkward. only-child cousins forced to act like siblings for a summer. Then he has designs on work in film. a completed sitcom script. and a monthly reading night in Manchester and anything else which will keep him involved with. and learning. the business of writing.
The Bird Room is published on Thu 22 Jan by Canongate.
III Louise Welsh Get up close with the twisted genius (pictured) behind The Cutting Room. as she rocks up to her local independent bookshop to read from her work and discuss most recent novel The Bullet Trick. Lost in fiction, Glasgow, Thu 29 Jan.
It Peter Murphy His debut novel John the Revelator is an insightful. energetic and fresh take on the tired old business of the dysfunctional family saga. See review. page 30.
* Chris Killen Yet another sickeningly talented debutant. Killen's compleny-plotted novel The Bird Room earned him the praise of Steven Raw Shark Texts Hall and will be published by Canongate from Thu 22 Jan. See preview, left. 13 Nicolas Fargues The young French author makes two appearances in Scotland to promote the English translation of his newest novel, I Was Behind You. an examination of gender relations set to a background of electronic music. Borders, Glasgow, Thu 29 Jan. Institut Francais d'Ecosse, Edinburgh, Fri 30 Jan.
1|! One Book - One Edinburgh This year, the whole city is encouraged to get reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost Wodd. or Sherlock Holmes and the Mysterious Affair of the Dinosaurs, as no-one calls it. Pick up your free copy at this launch event. Central Ubrary, Edinburgh, Sat 31 Jan.
* Days Like This Launch party for the Scottish Book Trust's anthology of true stories by members of the public, which was curated by Siobhan Redmond and Irvine Welsh. National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, Wed 4 Feb.
22 Jarira‘) Fat) 2009 TI‘IE LIST 29