21/04/07 - Scarborough Literature Festival

The morning session was devoted to ‘Women on Top’ and featured Jenny Colgan, Katie Fforde and Adele Parks.  Katie Fford likened ‘chick lit’ to a Mars bar, not recommended as a diet staple, but very comforting in times of need.  All three writers read extracts from their latest books and deftly fielded many questions from the chairman and the audience. 

Crime writers Val McDermid and Stella Duffy took the floor in the afternoon and gave an entertaining insight into their very different ways of working.  A mental picture from one of Val’s anecdotes about forensics - a preserved pubic scalp resembling flaked tuna - will take me a while to forget, but I’m certainly going to try!

Going to the first Scarborough Literature Festival has been a very useful experience and I only wish I could have stayed longer at the dog & vegetarian friendly Harmony Guest House and attended more events.  As it was, I came away with quite a few new ideas and several pages of scribbled notes to work on.  All useful stuff.