What does it mean to be a bookworm?

I’ve always been a reader. My parents having made damn sure I could read beyond my age range before I went to school, I have subsequently always had my nose deeply embedded in a book. Wherever I go, I take one with me. And recently, there have been a few bookish events that have resulted in me bringing more books away with me, either paid for or complementary copies.

The highlight of my writerly life – the day I met Joanne Harris

Last weekend, the World Fantasy Convention was in Brighton. I’d known about this since earlier in the year, and I tweeted the friend of Plot Bunnies, first-ever Q&A victim, Joanne Harris, to ask if we could perhaps meet up while she was in town. Yes, she said, that would be lovely. She asked me to email her nearer the time. (We’d been corresponding via Twitter & re Plot Bunnies for a while, by this time.)

Whatever happened to freedom of the press?

What with everything that’s been going on in the last few days, I feel I must show some solidarity with my fellow writers and stand up for what I believe in. So, what do I believe in?

World Book Day

Well, today is World Book Day. Alexander McCall Smith was on the breakfast news, #worldbookday or #wbd11 is trending on Twitter, everyone is talking books. I would like to think this means everyone, the world over, will be talking about books, buying books, borrowing books, reading books and even writing books, but the cynic in me remains convinced that those of us who are marking the day read anyway.

It’s quite something to meet one of your favourite writers

Last night, I went to Foyles in London because I’d managed to grab a place at Jasper Fforde’s book launch for his latest release, Shades of Grey. He is a writer whose work has fascinated me from the day I saw him on a BBC interview, when he read extracts from his book, The Eyre Affair, the first in the Thursday Next series. To be able to go and hear him read and then meet him afterwards was a blast.