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STEVE TOLTZ Succeeding with slices of lick and portions of skill Steve Toltz has been a private detective, a cameraman, an English teacher and telemarketeer, but now the author is doing what his Australian
TOP5 AUTHORS ON TV
Now where have I seen that writer before? Chances are on the gogglebox. Here’s a bunch of Charlotte Square TV types
Pauline McLynn It’s probably the kind of thing that really irks an author trying to break out from the shell of their most recognisable role, but with McLynn, all you can really think about is Mrs Doyle determinedly offering a cup of tea with the words: ‘go on, go on, go on’. Yet here she is with some crime novels to her name plus Missing You Already, an Alzheimer’s-based drama. 30 Aug, 8.30pm, £9 (£7). Charley Boorman Ewan McGregor’s intrepid buddy puts the brakes on his hectic life for an hour to chat about his many madcap adventures, the most recent of which took him from Ireland to Australia using ‘local transport’ only. 27 Aug, 6.30pm, £9 (£7).
Melvyn Bragg The nasally legend of The South Bank Show reflects on the nature of love in this event featuring his latest work, Remember Me, a story spanning four decades. 29 Aug, 11.30am, £9 (£7).
Sarah Dunant She set the pulse of many a red-blooded 80s man racing with those round coloured specs and curly hair while keeping guests from killing each other on The Late Show but she’s put all that frippery behind her to open some highly successful crime novels and historical dramas. 29 Aug, 10.30am, £9 (£7).
Andrew Roberts He may be stridently right wing, but that hasn’t stopped Roberts from giving us some pretty compelling history documentary series primarily Beeb2’s The Secrets of Leadership which focussed on the varying styles of Churchill, Hitler, JFK and MLK. 31 Aug, 2pm, £9 (£7). (Brian Donaldson)
mates have been doing for years: turning up at the Edinburgh Festival. Toltz, whose chunky first novel A Fraction of the Whole won worldwide acclaim and a Booker nomination last year, is delighted to be appearing. ‘I’ve always known friends who are performing in Edinburgh, so I’m pleased it’s my turn,’ he confesses. His picaresque romp pokes fun at very Australian obsessions from fair sportsmanship to building that ideal suburban home, following the adventures of the villainous Terry Dean and his philosophical explorer of a brother Martin and nephew, Jasper.
‘It took five years to write, and I wrote it while doing a lot of different jobs. You could say I kept faith, or it was a lack of other options, being a complete failure at everything else. I had no luck with agents. It just happened I got it to a publisher through a friend of a friend of my sister’s friend. The Booker nomination wasn’t something I had anticipated, and it is a thrill that it has found its place.’ The Sydney boy might now live in France, but that’s nothing to do with the response in Australia. ‘As I was writing it, I thought: “that’s a bit touchy”, but Australians have a sense of humour, and the reaction has been fantastic.’ (Senay Boztas) ■ 28 Aug (with Gil Adamson), 10.15am, £9 (£7).
MARK MILLAR Helping comics go widescreen
Mark Millar is surely the Steven Spielberg of the comics world. It’s a tricky task to be hugely popular while retaining massive critical acclaim, but he’s managed to successfully straddle the world of art and commerce with his love of mainstream heroes and cleverly plotted action blockbusters. For ideal evidence, see Civil War, Wolverine: Enemy of the State or Ultimate X-Men, plus American Jesus and The Unfunnies.
and nastily’. Knowingly, Maitland broaches contemporary fears of reclusion and its negative associations, challenging the idea ‘that anyone who is alone, must also be lonely, and that anyone who is lonely, is a bit weird.’ (Rosalie Doubal) ■ 29 Aug, 11am, £9 (£7); 30 Aug (with Susie Orbach), 7pm, £9 (£7). TOBIAS HILL Exposing demons through vigorous research
There’s a fascination with secrets in the works of Tobias Hill. His 1999 début novel, Underground, depicts the unseen world beneath the streets of London, and The Cryptographer, from 2003, features a code breaker caught in a futuristic web of lies and corruption. Hill’s most recent novel, Hidden, again roots his characters in covert truths, this time unearthing ancient Spartan graves in contemporary Greece. But Hill is not a genre writer, secrecy is simply a motif used to expose the internal demons of his flawed protagonists. ‘Obsession’s my poison,’ explains Hill. ‘I see shades of these things in so many people; I think the wholly sane are very rare.’ A poet and novelist, Hill’s writing demonstrates his talent for acute observations. The author spent a year researching Hidden before embarking on four years of writing, in order for Hill to achieve its meticulous historical depth. ‘The digging wasn’t what I wanted to know about, I’m comfortable imagining that. But getting the feel of Greece, ancient and modern, all took time.’ With a location and its history so integral to Hill’s inspiration, I suggest that the Scottish capital may spark his imagination during the Festival. ‘I love the geography of Edinburgh; it’s as spectacular as Istanbul or Rio de Janeiro. But I’d have to spend a good span of time in it. I’d want it under my skin.’ (Emma Lennox) ■ 29 Aug (with Claire Kilroy), 10.15am, £9 (£7).
FRANK GARDNER A travel journalist like no other
Frank Gardner is not your average two-weeks-by-a-pool-in-Majorca kind of fella. Words like ‘wanderlust’ and ‘globetrotter’ don’t really do justice to a life spent doing what the BBC Security Correspondent describes as
‘I’ve been bitten by the creator- owned bug,’ he says. ‘It’s weird, because in the past you would do Spiderman and Superman type things to fund your low-selling creator-owned books, but what’s happening is the creator-owned books are outselling the Marvel stuff now. It’s incredibly rewarding to sit and write something you made up yourself.’
And it’s paying massive dividends for Millar with big-screen adaptations of Wanted (Wanted 2 is already in production) and Kick-Ass. ‘I’m almost as big a movie buff as I am a comic buff, so for me it’s a bit like seeing your comics in print for the first time. It would be horrible if they were rubbish. I mean, if I was Alan Moore I’d be slitting my wrists,’ he laughs. Despite making inroads into the world of film, Millar is still in love with comics. ‘I think comics are the most interesting medium. There’s ten times as many ideas in your average graphic novel than your average novel. That’s why Hollywood has come calling.’ (Henry Northmore) ■ 29 Aug, 8pm, £9 (£7).
SARA MAITLAND The cultural history of quiet contemplation
‘We generally tend to be very romantic about silence. People say, “wouldn’t it be lovely to be silent”, but then they don’t do anything to make it happen.’ Having hitherto led a noisy family-filled life as both a prize-winning novelist and outspoken feminist, it’s with reason that accomplished author Sara Maitland now bemoans our general tardiness towards hush: her last ten years have been spent researching it. Occupying a small hermitage on an isolated moor in Galloway, she currently spends three hours a day in prayer and two days a week in total quiet. A Book of Silence chronicles the author’s long periods of reclusion spent on the Isle of Skye and in the Sinai desert, and concurrently charts the cultural history of silence, its significance to hermits, sailors and poets alike.
‘I tried to tie my own experiences into a wider silence, so it’s not a memoir in the simple sense of the word’, Maitland explains. ‘People, without understanding why, want to know more about their endless need for noise. I’m aware that people are curious of my research, both nicely
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66 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 27 Aug–10 Sep 2009