Margaret Atwood Signing at the Abbey Bookshop
My favourite English language bookshop in Paris, the Canadian Abbey Bookshop, is tiny and feels crowded if there are more than four people browsing in there. Its overflowing bookshelves reach up to the ceiling and, in front of them, books are stacked in precarious piles. My flat wants to be like that when it grows up.
It goes without saying that if you invite an internationally renowned author like Margaret Atwood into a little shop like this, then people are going to be forced to wait outside. Where it was snowing. The pan of hot apple cider was outside too, so I don't suppose anyone minded too much.
Margaret Atwood was sitting cross-legged on a table in the middle of an island of books. Not really comfortable, she said when I asked, but she carried on signing with good grace. She was ostensibly attending the launch of the French edition of "Oryx and Crake", titled "Le dernier homme", but I suspect she saw more English books than French. I think she was also in Paris to be given an honorary degree to add to her collection.
After I got my book signed, I managed to recognise Katia, the Aussie Lass, who also happened to be there and who introduced me to another blogger, L'Oiseau Anglais. We had a pleasant chat while carefully trying not to touch, look at or breathe on the avalanche prone books.
We were asked to move to the nearby church for Atwood's talk. I'd kind of wondered if she was going to comment on the genre of the book, but didn't expect her to. For those who missed the kerfuffle, after "Oryx and Crake" was published, she'd apparently claimed that it wasn't science fiction. SF fandom yelled "bollocks!" in response.
To my gratification, science fiction was pretty much the first thing she mentioned. She talked in her quiet voice about how there were two sorts of science fiction, one not based on real stuff (e.g., talking squid on other planets) and one that was. "Oryx and Crake" fell into the second category and she also applied the tag of speculative fiction to it.
My respect for her greatly increased when she started taking questions. Her answers were sharply intelligent and kindly delivered, even when someone asked, in a True Believer tone of voice, "I feel you had a mission when writing Oryx and Crake beyond telling a good story. Is that right?"
I haven't read that many of Atwood's books, but I'm certainly motivated to find more of them now.
It goes without saying that if you invite an internationally renowned author like Margaret Atwood into a little shop like this, then people are going to be forced to wait outside. Where it was snowing. The pan of hot apple cider was outside too, so I don't suppose anyone minded too much.
Margaret Atwood was sitting cross-legged on a table in the middle of an island of books. Not really comfortable, she said when I asked, but she carried on signing with good grace. She was ostensibly attending the launch of the French edition of "Oryx and Crake", titled "Le dernier homme", but I suspect she saw more English books than French. I think she was also in Paris to be given an honorary degree to add to her collection.
After I got my book signed, I managed to recognise Katia, the Aussie Lass, who also happened to be there and who introduced me to another blogger, L'Oiseau Anglais. We had a pleasant chat while carefully trying not to touch, look at or breathe on the avalanche prone books.
We were asked to move to the nearby church for Atwood's talk. I'd kind of wondered if she was going to comment on the genre of the book, but didn't expect her to. For those who missed the kerfuffle, after "Oryx and Crake" was published, she'd apparently claimed that it wasn't science fiction. SF fandom yelled "bollocks!" in response.
To my gratification, science fiction was pretty much the first thing she mentioned. She talked in her quiet voice about how there were two sorts of science fiction, one not based on real stuff (e.g., talking squid on other planets) and one that was. "Oryx and Crake" fell into the second category and she also applied the tag of speculative fiction to it.
My respect for her greatly increased when she started taking questions. Her answers were sharply intelligent and kindly delivered, even when someone asked, in a True Believer tone of voice, "I feel you had a mission when writing Oryx and Crake beyond telling a good story. Is that right?"
I haven't read that many of Atwood's books, but I'm certainly motivated to find more of them now.