Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.
The rules are simple:
- Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
- Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
- Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
- Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.
This week’s topic is Top Ten Authors I’d Love To Meet. Having just returned from attending several events at Henley Literary Festival 2018, my list is a combination of the authors I met (or at least saw in person) and those I would have liked to meet if I’d been able to attend more events.
Click on the author name to view event details (some now past or sold out). Henley Literary Festival started on Saturday 30th September and runs until Sunday 7th October 2018. Later this week I’ll be posting detailed reviews of the events I attended.
Have met:
Alan Johnson – Former Labour politician and Home Secretary turned author of the award-winning memoirs This Boy, Please, Mister Postman and The Long and Winding Road. Alan’s latest book, In My Life: A Music Memoir was published by Bantam Press in September 2018. My husband was thrilled to chat briefly to Alan and have his copy of Please, Mister Postman signed at Henley Literary Festival on Sunday.
Diane Setterfield – Best-selling author of The Thirteenth Tale and Bellman & Black returns with her next book, Once Upon A River, due out in December. The TV rights for the book have already been snapped up. I was lucky enough to hear her read an excerpt from the book at Henley Literary Festival yesterday and leave with my own (signed) proof copy.
A J Pearce – Debut novelist who burst onto the scene in 2017 with Dear Mrs. Bird. She’s currently working on her next book, a sequel to Dear Mrs. Bird. Having loved the book, I was delighted to meet her in person at Henley Literary Festival yesterday.
Anne Youngson – Another debut novelist whose epistolary novel, Meet Me At the Museum was praised by other authors and critics alike. I was delighted to meet Anne and have her sign my copy of her book at Henley Literary Festival yesterday.
Would have liked to meet:
Lucy Mangan – I recently read (and loved) Lucy’s book Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading but unfortunately couldn’t make her event at Henley Literary Festival today. It would have been great to swap childhood favourites.
Sebastian Faulks – Author of Birdsong, Sebastian Faulk’s latest novel is Paris Echo which I read recently. I’d have loved the chance to meet him and ask him about the book when he appeared on the first day of this year’s Henley Literary Festival.
Louis de Bernières – Another author I was sorry to have missed seeing at Henley Literary Festival as I loved Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and have a reservation request at my local library for his latest novel, So Much Life Left Over.
Anthony Horowitz – In my review of his book, The Word is Murder, I commented that ‘it was proof, if it were needed, that Anthony Horowitz is a very clever man’. As someone who was a fan of the TV series Foyle’s War that he created and who has several of his books in my TBR pile, it would have been great to meet him at Henley Literary Festival tomorrow.
Kate Mosse – I’ve enjoyed many of Kate Mosse’s previous books and rated her most recent novel, The Burning Chambers, one of her best. How fascinating would it be to find out firsthand how she keeps producing such great historical fiction.
Vera Brittain –Since she died in 1970 it’s clearly impossible to meet the acclaimed author of Testament of Youth and many other works of fiction and non-fiction. The next best thing perhaps would be to hear her biographer, Mark Bostridge, talk about Vera and the reissue by Virago of a special illustrated edition of Testament of Youth to mark the centenary of the First World War.
