On Tour: Meet the author David Mitchell

David Mitchell is the genre-hopping author of the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks, his latest novel (both Sceptre). He will be touring in May, visiting Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, where he will appear at the Sydney Writers’ Festival.

What would you put on a shelf-talker for your latest book? 
I wouldn’t: it would be like writing my own Amazon reviews.

What are you reading right now?
White Bicycles by Joe Boyd, the 1960s record producer (Serpent’s Tail).

What are you planning to read next?
The new Neal Stephenson, Seveneves (The Borough Press).

Which book do you always recommend? 
It depends who I’m talking to.

What was the defining book of your childhood?
Watership Down (Richard Adams, Puffin), among others.

If you were a literary character you’d be …
Someone in a novel left unfinished by the premature death of its author, so I would never have to die.

What’s your favourite book adaptation (film, television or theatre)?
Kubrick’s The Shining, also among others.

What’s your favourite books website or blog?
It would be unfair to all the others to pick just one. Any well-written, thoughtful, fair-minded website that brings hidden gems to general attention and avoids negative criticism or vindictiveness is fine by me.

Hardback, paperback or digital?
It’s horses for courses innit.

Facebook or Twitter?
Conversation with humans who listen as well as talk—the format doesn’t matter.

In 50 years’ time books will be …
Still with us.

Tags: ontour

Category: Features