Edinburgh International Book Festival - Day One

Colm Toibin's sold-out event focused on his latest book, a work of non-fiction titled New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers and Their Families. The audience were treated to plenty of juicy details about the personal lives of famous writers: Beckett, for example, enjoyed going for long walks with his father, but "got boils on his neck just thinking about his mother". The novelist suggested that writing is partly magic and partly good hard work: "Inspiration is as close to a shooting star as it is to dredging water from a well".

 

Toibin is vastly knowledgeable about literature and the lives of authors, but he never came across as exclusive or snobbish about his reading habits, admitting: "I initially read Kafka because I liked the shape of his name". To a packed audience of book lovers, Toibin managed to sum up exactly what it so magical about novels: "When you're reading, the outside world is precarious and the book is full." 

 

It's been 17 years since Michael Palin's last novel and 25 years since his last appearance at EIBF, so his event was one of the most hotly anticipated. Palin didn't disappoint, and humour, not surprisingly, was a big part of his discourse – he claims that his "default mode is comedy" and that "humour is a hugely important part of the British character". Although his new novel The Truth has moments of levity, Palin was inspired by the harsh working conditions at the aluminium plants in India. He acknowledged the difficulty of criticising a system from an outsider's perspective: "You must be careful not to be hypocritical – without aluminium, I wouldn't have been able to travel to India or send messages home."

 

Palin also discussed his early work with The Etceteras, who performed at Edinburgh's Fringe festival in 1964. He advises that young writers and performers should try to retain creative control, rather than letting others dictate the work: "You're the one who knows best what you want to do." But it wasn't all serious. When asked by an audience member whether he'd attended John Cleese's recent wedding, Palin expressed surprise. "I'm actually shocked! I thought John was going to be married in September. I was supposed to be going!"

 

In a morning event, the multi-talented A.L. Kennedy discussed her life. A friend apparently once told her, "I can't read your books in bed because I hear your voice." It's easy to see why; Kennedy's voice is as distinctive as her writing, and fits her droll humour perfectly. For example: "I have never been described as 'dapper', even by people who haven't met me." One of the funniest parts of the reading was when Kennedy told of being stopped by a US border guard and asked to describe what sort of writing she does. The problem with explaining literary fiction, she says, is that it's "a type of fiction that is not a type: not romance, not spies, not crime, not profitable." More of Kennedy's thoughts on writing can be found in her upcoming book, On Writing.