Part of the appeal of writing has always been the anonymity, you can hide behind nom de plume and it’s perfectly acceptable to be a recluse. But this Saturday 24th July I will have to do the opposite. I have been invited and when I say invited I mean coaxed, cajoled and lightly bullied into reading at the Port Eliot literary festival
Brilliant, but really scary. Well there comes a point in every writer’s life when he has to stop showing work to ‘safe’ audiences and face real listeners and readers. Now let’s put things into context; firstly it is an honour and I’m both excited and terrified, secondly it’s not as if I’ve been invited to co-host Jarvis Cockers radio 6music show or asked to help Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall cook up a light lunch of Rabbit-a-la-road kill. My tutor merely asked me if I would read 10 minutes of my scribblings from my Silk Road manuscript.
I’ve read books by Geoff Dyer, Diana Athill and Alexander Masters, all of whom will be there. It was terrifying enough to do it in school (my formative years in skiving stem from a horror of English classes and reading aloud) but what if someone actually comes into the Prof reading tent?They might actually hear me, sorry that’s the nerves talking.
Okay off to choose what to read.
Have a good week folks
Cheers Matt
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