On tour: Meet the author Samantha Shannon
UK author Samantha Shannon is visiting Australia in November for the Supanova pop culture expo. Shannon’s debut novel The Bone Season (Bloomsbury) is the first book in a seven-part series.
What would you put on a shelf-talker for your book?
The title makes sense when you read it. I promise.
What is the silliest question you’ve ever been asked on a book tour?
I don’t know if I’d call it silly, exactly, but one man asked me why I’d chosen to use the novel form to tell my story, as it was essentially a 600-year-old cliché. I said I wasn’t particularly good at poetry or playwriting, so the novel seemed the natural form to use, but he seemed to be saying that by writing a novel, I wasn’t thinking outside the box.
And the most profound?
Most of them are profound.
What are you reading right now?
Several things at once! The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling (Little, Brown) and New Grub Street by George Gissing (various imprints), among other books. I can’t seem to focus on just one at the moment.
What was the last book you read and loved?
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (Text).
What was the defining book of your childhood?
The ‘Harry Potter’ books (J K Rowling) and Roald Dahl’s works were my favourites, but I couldn’t just narrow it down to one defining book.
Which is your favourite bookstore?
Hatchards in London. A beautiful 18th-century treasure trove.
What’s your favourite thing about being a writer?
Getting to tell stories for a living.
Who would you like to challenge to a literary spat?
John Donne. Although it would be more of a general, entertaining spat than a literary spat.
Facebook or Twitter?
Twitter.
If I were a literary character I’d be …
Éowyn (from J R R Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’).
In 50 years’ time books will be …
Still very much around, but seen as collectors’ items.
Tags: ontour
Category: Features
