Oct 7, 2013 ... A Magical Experience – Eoin Colfer ... October, I went to see Eoin Colfer talk at
the Manchester Literature ... I bought his latest book, WARP:.
A Magical Experience – Eoin Colfer On Monday 7th October, I went to see Eoin Colfer talk at the Manchester Literature Festival. I had been a fan of his Artemis Fowl books since I was very young but had never before met him or seen him “in the flesh” so was delighted to have this chance. The event was at the People’s History Museum. The audience was mainly children and I feel he did brilliantly in putting together a performance that they could understand and appreciate but that was also enjoyable for the adults in the room. Colfer’s talk covered all kinds of topics and was delivered in the form of many little anecdotes from his life. He began with stories from his youth, such as his first disco, and moved on to stories about his family; in particular the antics of his two sons aged sixteen and ten. Eoin is talented both as a comedian and, of course, as a storyteller, and seeing how witty he can be made me understand just why his books are so amusing in places: he is simply really talented at the art of the anecdote. He can make one little incident into a well-structured, dramatic and funny story. If I could have improved anything, I would have preferred more talk about the books. He spoke about them only fleetingly in his main talk. However, what he did do was show us, discreetly, where he gets his inspiration from, which is very much connected with the books and does help me understand them a bit more. After the talk he took questions, some of which were about his books – maybe he had predicted this, hence why he didn’t discuss them earlier. I learnt that he aims to write fifty books in his lifetime – he is currently on around twenty-four (the number varies depending on whether you count collaborations). There were also questions about his life as a writer, which I, as an aspiring author, found really interesting. After the event he signed books for a long queue of fans. I bought his latest book, WARP: The Reluctant Assassin and he kindly signed it for me. The book is about time travelling, probably inspired by the childhood love of Doctor Who that featured in one of his anecdotes. If it’s as clever and witty as the Artemis Fowl books, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. Overall, it was a wonderful event and I’m so glad to have had the chance to see it and report on it. With the Artemis Fowl film coming out some time in the future, now is an exciting time to be a Colfer fan, and I’m sure any kids at the talk who were relatively new to his books will be fans now. It was a fantastic afternoon and I’d love to attend any similar events he does in the future. By Liz Gibson
