Big Book Weekend: Day Two Round Up

This is my round-up of Day Two of the Big Book Weekend! Please bear in mind that I couldn't get round to watching all of the events from each day so this is just a recap of those I did catch but there were so many other amazing events at the festival. If you didn't catch them live, you can head over to MyVLF.com  and sign up for absolutely free and watch all the events again 😊

Saturday 9th May 2020

Interview with Neil Gaiman

Day Two of the Big Book Weekend started off with a HUGE interview with the one and only Neil Gaiman!! I was introduced to Neil's work a couple of years ago by my boyfriend who insisted I watch American Gods and since then I've watched season one twice, I've seen season two, read the book and thanks to said boyfriend, have three more of his books on my bookshelf waiting to be read. So I was really excited to know that Neil was one of the guests at the Big Book Weekend. He was actually there to talk with Sam Weller about another legend, Ray Bradbury. To be shamefully honest, although I'm aware of Bradbury's books, I've never actually read any of them and I really only attended initially to see Neil but it was well worth it. The talk was presented by The Bath Festival and was in celebration of 100 years since the birth of Ray Bradbury. During the discussion, they talked about both of their personal friendships with the author and what they believed made him so influential. I really enjoy listening to authors talk about other authors in this way as I find it makes them so relatable to their own readers who probably feel a similar way about them. 

The words they used to describe Ray Bradbury and his books were really inspiring and I although Sci-Fi isn't my favourite genre, I am interested in now reading a couple of his books: Dandelion Wine and Fahrenheit 451. 

A really awesome fact about this event is that it had over 450 people attend which I think for an online event is just so insane! 

Louise Hare and Beth Morrey with Sue Wall 

This was the first event of the festival that I watched where it was two authors being interviewed at the same time. Louise Hare (author of This Lovely City) and Beth Morrey (author of Saving Missy) are both debut novelists and they chatted with Sue Wall about their experiences as newly published writers. This event was not just for readers of fiction but also for aspiring writers as well so I got a lot of enjoyment and knowledge from this event which I found really useful. 

What I really enjoyed about this talk was the questions that Sue asked both Beth and Louise. They were so perfect for anyone watching that is wanting to be a published author because it was all the questions that I felt I would ask if given the opportunity such as, "What was your most exciting point of the process?" and "How has life changed for you since your book was published." I know these are commonly asked but I've normally heard them being asked to authors who have had several books published already and so are quite used to the process whereas I find there is nothing better than asking a debut author who is it all still very much real and new for. 

This talk was presented by Derby Book Festival 

Marian Keys with Catherine Mayer 

This was by far my favourite event of the day! I've heard of Marian Keys and I can picture her book covers easily in my head but never read one. The reason being that I'm not a massive reader of Romance Novels which is what I always associated her with. But from the moment the talk with her started today I instantly became a fan. She seems to be just such a humble, appreciative, happy person and she came across so grateful to Catherine Mayer, thanking her every time she paid a compliment to her but with such absolute modesty. It wasn't like a knowingly slow nod of the head thank you, it was gracious and surprised thank you that was so lovely to see. 

Presented by Primadonna Festival the talk covered a lot about feminism and equal rights which Marian appears to be a strong advocate for. Personally, I am very pro-equal rights but I don't always think this can mean the same as feminism and so I'm always wary when people get onto this discussion but I was really interested in what Marian had to say about equal rights in the world of publishing. I sat there in my kitchen with a cup of tea in hand and it was like having a private zoom meeting with both Marian and Catherine but with them doing all the talking and me just happily listening along. It was like watching a conversation between two friends and it was such a nice, thought-provoking conversation. Having looked it up, Marian's books also fall under Contemporary/Modern fiction and I've since added a couple of her books to my TBR page and really excited to get stuck into them! 

And that was it really for my Day Two at the Big Book Festival! If you like what you've read, I would so recommend checking these talks and the rest of them out at MyVLF using the link above! Thanks for reading! 😊