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Hay Fest 2015
I got a ticket to the Neil Gaiman event at the Hay Fest this year. It was an evening show, and I popped along for the day. First person I bumped into was Ali Sparkes - award winning children's author. We've met a couple of times over the years, and keep in touch on FB. To be fair she's lovely and always has kind words of support. She'd launched her new book Car-Jacked (Oxford University Press) at the festival and was going onto the Wychwood Festival, after a BBC radio interview (a very busy and popular lady). We talked briefly in the Artists Lounge...yeah I know, and she was heading to the Cathy Cassidy talk. I briefly said hi to Che Golden too, who happened to be with her, another popular children's author.
My event wasn't until 8.30pm that evening, so plenty of time to look around, and I did, spending the day perusing the various stalls and bookshops.
There were a few book-signings going on, so I asked an assistant if Neil Gaiman was doing one? 'Yes,' she said, 'in fact right now, next door.' I frantically grabbed a copy of: The Ocean at the End of the Lane (the only book left in the shop, and one I didn't have at home). The snake of a queue was long, as you can imagine, and slowly disappearing into a side door. So I trickled like a stream in a drought with the other eager fans - took quite a while. I got to Mr Gaiman and realised, why there were no books in the shop - they were all here. And...there, beside him, was a Mr Chris Riddell, who'd done a talk with Neil earlier...wow!
Later that afternoon whilst leaning against a tree, just taking it easy - I was handed free ticket's for a comedy show, on; of all things, climate change. The speaker was Marcus Brigstocke and guests included Steve Punt. So I thought, why not? It was free after all! The place was packed and the experience lighthearted, even though the subject matter was a serious one.
That killed an hour and I wandered around, grabbed a coffee and queued for Neil Gaiman. I met two lovely people in the queue - Kimberly Haddrell (a graphic designer) and Hugh Griffiths (a micro biologist) both from South Wales, my local area. You can't say you don't meet a mixture of people at Hay. They were lovely and we talked quite a bit in the hour we queued (to get good seats). They invited me to an event they are running, and I gave them info on the RCT BookFest 2015, to see if they could get involved with that.
Once we were allowed in and, because I was on my own, got to sit in an unoccupied single seat in the front row (about three metres from the stage). That hour flew by. Neil Gaiman is amazing. He spoke of his relationship with Terry Pratchett and the funny stories of their friendship. He also talked of his own work in books, and graphic novels. I was enthralled by his words and submerged in his readings. What a fantastic day.