Hey guys! It’s another busy week and it’s only Wednesday, what are you up to? In between glugging coffee, writers’ meetings and clearing the backlog of writing in preparation for NaNoWriMo next month, I squeezed in a visit to the Manchester Literature Festival (MLF). This event goes from strength to strength and this year had its best roll call of literary luminaries. From afternoon tea with Sue Macgregor and a Q&A with Zadie Smith to a rustic pub walk exploring haunts of famous authors, MLF is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with on the literary scene. I was lucky to attend a Q&A with the incredibly talented Samit Basu, author, screenwriter and journalist extraordinaire.
He spoke about his latest novel Turbulence, which is an interesting satirical YA novel replete with superheroes possessing mind-bending powers. The superhero genre is timeless. From Superman to Spiderman, Batman and Iron Man (I could go on), the appeal of the rebellious, angsty ‘man on a mission to save the world’ is universal. There are definite parallels to superheroes in my writing (I was inspired by Superman in my debut novel and he remains one of my favourite characters). Which is why I can’t wait to start Turbulence; anything related with the superhero genre and I’m there faster than the Bat Mobile on an F1 track.
Honestly, it’s close to torture having to ignore the books I really want to read and plough through my mountain of writing. I love writing, I just really really want to read these other tantalising books too. Sylvia Day’s Reflected In You also features on my must read pile, which I’ll be reviewing here in December.
Back to MLF where it was great meeting Samit. He’s one of the most down to earth, engaging speakers I have had the good fortune to meet. He chatted about his dealings with Bollywood and his writing journey; in short, a true gentleman and awesome author. I’ll be reviewing Turbulence in December, so if you’re a Samit Basu fan, do keep checking here. In the meantime, I couldn’t resist posting this picture of me and Spidey in Manchester. Gal pal A who is also a MAJOR Spidey fan will be proud (we went through a phase of imitating the famous wrist flick). And on on that note, I must dash.
Ciao for now,
RAx