Dear Reader,
If you’ve subscribed to girl with the golden pen for a while, you’ll know that when I was a teenager I aspired to appear at Hay Literary Festival, the Glastonbury of book festivals. So this year has been one where dreams came true, in which I appeared at Hay three times: first Hay-on-Wye in the spring, then early autumn at Hay Segovia, and now Hay-in-Winter back in the Town of Books on the Welsh-English border.
I arrived in darkness on Friday night and reported for dinner at the pub, where I was seated with the Booker Prize shortlisted authors. We talked about the far right and AI and sports cars because, you know, James Bond. On Saturday morning I reported for duty at Hay Castle, where Richard Booth, the self-proclaimed King of Hay and spark behind the book town, used to live. It’s now transformed into a site for the public, and the Hay Festival flags were flying over its frosted grounds. The artists’ green room is tucked into the turret, and that’s where I met Louis de Bernière, author of Captain Correlli’s Mandolin, who I was interviewing about his new novel, Light over Liskeard.
I’ve been honoured to chair some big names in the world of literature – Kate Mosse, Anthony Horowitz, Joanne Harris, Lee Child, Max Porter. It’s exciting to meet people whose work has informed our culture so deeply, and it was the same with Louis. Our chat back stage and on stage covered more AI, the threat and promise of quantum computing, the connection between dreaming and reading – and shooting deer, surprisingly one of Louis’ skills. It was enlightening and fun. You can watch the interview on Hay Player (coming soon). It was lovely to be at the festival all weekend because folks stopped me to say how much they’d enjoyed the event, so thank you if you were one of those people! (Maybe one day strangers recognising me will no longer be mystifying, when they’ve literally just watched me on stage for an hour...)
After a quick lunch it was time to get back on stage, this time with Ava Glass, author of the Alias Emma spy series. Believe it or not, Ripley, this was my first event with another female spy writer. Thanks to Hay for making that happen and to everyone in the sold-out audience for coming along! It was fascinating to hear Emma’s journey from working alongside spies in comms to writing about them. We reflected on the relative sparsity of female spy writers, both now and in the past.
I spoke about the female spy writers who are forgotten when it comes to the “best spy writer” lists, anthologies and curricular that make up the espionage canon – whether classics like Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day, or “forgotten” bestsellers like Helen MacInnes. You can read more about those brilliant women and more in my Top 10 Female Spies list for The Guardian. I also spoke about how proud I am to join the legacy of women in the world of Bond, from Johanna Harwood to all the amazing women at the Ian Fleming Estate. And I reminded folks how many brilliant female characters we find in Fleming’s writing, from Tiffany Case to Gala Brand.
I was thrilled to find a fellow fan of Fleming in Stephen Fry, who was appearing at the festival on Sunday. Stephen is someone I’ve always looked up to: a writer, broadcaster and actor who has shaped my life. When I was young, it wasn’t all that cool in my school to love literature, language and learning (shock horror). But reading and watching Stephen made me feel like it would be OK – there would be a community of people waiting for a grown up Kim, who would share my passions and want to celebrate curiosity. I met Stephen a number of years ago at UEA and he was extremely kind to me then, and was just as kind at Hay, where we talked about all those things teenage Kim longed to talk about.
The green room is a magical place of connections, a microcosm of Hay itself. I was thrilled to meet Sarah Ogilvie, who has written a new book about the dictionary; Louise Minchin and Lee Craigie, both brilliantly fearless women; Hamza Yassin, who was gracious enough to overlook my total ignorance when it comes to Strictly Come Dancing, which, it turns out, he won; and Nii Ayikwei and David Olusoga. I admire David hugely and chatting with him felt like I’d won a prize. Hugh Bonneville made a brief guest spot, and promised to bring Paddington next year. (PADDINGTON! I kept that outburst to myself in the moment). It’s the staff at Hay who make the atmosphere, and I’m grateful to everyone who made it so welcoming and fun.
On Sunday I delivered a daylong crime writing workshop in the castle – definitely the most spectacular place I’ve ever taught! I was deeply moved by one participant, a young Ukrainian refugee who came to my event with Kate Mosse at Hay in spring, and wanted to tell me I’d inspired her to pursue writing. It’s not often you hear something like that. I felt incredibly touched.
The final gift from Hay was Stephen Fry’s lecture on myth to wrap up the festival – a generous and inspiring hour that left me flying. Then it was time to pack up and say a massive thanks to my kind host family and get back on the road. That was my last event of 2023, a year in which my books have taken me to Barcelona, Madrid, Segovia, Leipzig, Edinburgh (not far to travel, admittedly), Glasgow, London, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Penzance, Kingsbridge, St Ives, Budleigh Salterton, Suffolk and Pinewood. Heartfelt thanks to everybody who has joined me online or in-person. None of it could happen without you.
From Kim, With Love x
And for paying subscribers, I thought you might be interested to read my Top 10 Crime Writing Tips…
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