list.co.uk/festival OWEN SHEERS Covering the poetic landscape of Britain
One of those infuriating people whose expansive CV (poet, novelist, playwright, actor, television presenter) is matched only by their down to earth charm, Wales’ Owen Sheers will be presenting two very different projects at the Book Festival. The first is A Poet’s Guide to Britain, which he
presented for BBC4 and will be launching in DVD format here. ‘We chose a single poem about a very specific place in the UK,’ he says, ‘and then used that poem as a doorway into the story behind the writing of it and into the place itself. It really covers the whole landscape of the country, from towns and cities to mountains to the sea, and was effectively a chance to take a soil sample of different parts of the nation.’
Among those poets whose work was explored in the series are George Mackay Brown, Sylvia Plath, Wordsworth and Keats, and Sheers particularly recommends their work as ‘not just a guide to the external landscape of the places they explore, but to the internal one as well.’ Sheers will also be presenting his new novel White Ravens alongside Russell Celyn Jones’ The Ninth Wave, both books in a series reimagining the Welsh Mabinogion folk tales. ‘These won’t require prior knowledge of the Mabinogion,’ says Sheers. ‘Our brief was more to find a contemporary resonance at the heart of the original material and run with it.’ (David Pollock) ■ 21 Aug (with Russell Celyn Jones), 10.15am; 4pm (solo event), £10 (£8).
NEXT ISSUE OUT WEDNESDAY 25 AUGUST
SIMON RICH Taking inspiration from the comedy greats
Simon Rich makes his first appearance as a fully fledged novelist at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival. Although the 24-year- old Harvard graduate has written two anecdotal non-fiction comedy books in the past three years – Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations and Free-Range Chickens – Elliot Allagash is his first foray into the world of comedy fiction. For a writer who counts Monty Python, Evelyn Waugh and ‘anyone who’s ever written for The Simpsons’ as his inspiration, Rich’s humour is both fresh and cynical, appealing across the board to teens and adults alike.
The novel is his take on the traditional teenage transformation story, following the story of geeky Seymour Herson as the ludicrously wealthy teenage Elliot turns him into the most popular boy in school. ‘I’ve always been an obsessive fan of funny novelists like Roald Dahl, Douglas Adams and PG Wodehouse,’ says Rich. ‘Elliot Allagash is my attempt to rip them off as much as possible while avoiding legal plagiarism.’
In his other occupation as the youngest-ever writer for Saturday Night Live, Rich must also work out how to pen for different audiences. ‘They each have their own advantages. When you’re writing a
Festival Books
sketch for SNL, and it’s not going well, you can just write “Justin Timberlake enters” and you know the thing will work,’ he explains. ‘Novels have their benefits too, though. Only authors can write “the world exploded” and not have to worry about production costs.’ For now, it seems Rich is succeeding at both. (Emma Langman) ■ 19 Aug (with Paul Murray), 8.30pm, £10 (£8). Online Booking Fringe www.edfringe.com International Festival www.eif.co.uk Book Festival www.edbookfest.co.uk Art Festival www.edinburghartfestival.org
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19–26 Aug 2010 THE LIST 23