The Scotsman reports: I was lucky enough to chair an event at the Dundee Book Festival with Philip Pullman, who was receiving an honorary degree, in Dundee. He is a seasoned performer, so much so that the occasion felt unique and tailored to its audience, despite the fact that Pullman must have answered many of the questions many times before. He gave a few insider snippets about the new film, The Golden Compass, which is based on his novel Northern Lights - Daniel Craig, who plays Lord Asriel, became rather more prominent (on account of 007) between casting and filming; and, since his role is rather limited in the original, some new scenes had to fill the "Daniel Craig shaped hole". One of these, Pullman revealed, cost £12m to realise. He also had a bone to pick with Russell T Davies, who was "inspired" by the ending of His Dark Materials for the departure of Billie Piper from Doctor Who.
Critics feel the wrath of writers as festival fever starts earlier every year
STUART KELLY
ALTHOUGH the festival season is purportedly a month away still, it doesn't feel like that in the book world. Last week I was in Dundee and Melrose, at the inaugural Dundee Book Festival and for the fourth year of the Borders Book Festival. The circuit is thriving: a quick comparison of notes with friends yielded a list of 21 such events in Scotland. I suppose it's a bit like altitude training for the marathon of the Edinburgh International Book Festival in six weeks' time.
I was lucky enough to chair an event with Philip Pullman, who was receiving an honorary degree, in Dundee. He is a seasoned performer, so much so that the occasion felt unique and tailored to its audience, despite the fact that Pullman must have answered many of the questions many times before. He gave a few insider snippets about the new film, The Golden Compass, which is based on his novel Northern Lights - Daniel Craig, who plays Lord Asriel, became rather more prominent (on account of 007) between casting and filming; and, since his role is rather limited in the original, some new scenes had to fill the "Daniel Craig shaped hole". One of these, Pullman revealed, cost £12m to realise.
He also had a bone to pick with Russell T Davies, who was "inspired" by the ending of His Dark Materials for the departure of Billie Piper from Doctor Who.
The Borders had billed itself as a "Glyndebourne of books", but the ceaseless rain turned it into a Glastonbury. What was heartening was how little this mattered, with several events selling out regardless. Claire Messud was personable and self-deprecating, even as she dazzled with erudition and enthusiasm. It was also heartening to hear that the fact that she's married to the most formidable literary reviewer in the US - James Wood - doesn't exempt her from his criticism. Apparently he compared one of her first drafts to the "made-for-TV movie channel, Lifetime".
Among the other highlights were Andrew Greig, who managed to make golf interesting even to me; an excellent reading from debut writer Will Sutton; and, in keeping with its local roots, a celebration of Walter Elliot's New Minstrelsy Of The Scottish Borders.
But the most fun was had at "Panned, Rubbished and Slated", an event where aggrieved authors vented their intense frustrations at the only literary editor in the room: me.
I was rather disappointed that none of my brother and sister critics had the chutzpah - or foolhardiness - to attend this event, since it was remarkably amicable despite the obvious cracks about authors liking critics as much as lamp-posts like dogs. James Naughtie told an anecdote about interviewing David Hare for the Today programme, after Hare had slammed his book on Blair (the playwright was, unaccountably, sheepish); Norman Davies gave a full taxonomy of all the bad reviews he had received; and George Rosie recollected that what really hurts is no reviews at all. The event was taped - whether for police evidence or posterity I'm unsure - and readers can hear me facing off against irate authors on Radio Scotland, on July 23, at 1.15pm.
2 comments - Add yours
#1
Gah I wish we could read these specific comments of his! And I'd love to hear exactly what he said about Doctor Who's season 2 ending. I totally recall being very interested in the relationship between it and the end of HDM. Anyway to find out the exact quotes?
# July 9, 2007 20:01 by QueenHal
#2
He's such a cool man.
# July 13, 2007 00:34 by Dark Fantasies