Cheltenham

Back home from Cheltenham.

Well, that was fun, as always. An event with Kevin Brooks, Melvin Burgess and Sophie McKenzie to talk about their new teen novels; a discussion with Michael Farr and Raphaël Taylor about Tintin (these two know all there is to know on the subject, and had brought along some great pictures, too); then the wonderful Michael Foreman and Terry Jones (a last-minute addition to my slate) to discuss their latest collaboration, Animal Tales, and significantly I managed an hour on stage resisting the temptation to talk about Life of Brian, which felt like an incredible feat (I didn't even ask Terry to say "He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy...", just once, oh go on, just say it once, pleeeease...); and finally a chat with Kevin Crossley-Holland and Katherine Langrish about their latest books, Bracelet of Bones and West of the Moon, respectively.

This last was my favourite, I think - Kevin and Katherine, though they'd not met before this event, clearly really like each other's work, which always helps, and the whole event felt like an actual, proper, interesting, coherent conversation about important things, rather than a sort of hybrid interview to promote a couple of products - we talked about language and about stories and about Vikings and more and more. Brilliant.

I wonder what Chelt '12 will have in store. Looking forward already...