[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-oxford-literary-festival-2":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"So Sunday was a fabulous day because I got to hang out at the Oxford Literary Festival with two fab friends \u003Ca href=\"http://candygourlay.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-blue-peter-panel-at-oxford-literary.html\">Candy Gourlay\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/2011/04/doing-time-in-oxford.html\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a>, who had an event the same day as mine. Philip and I are bookending Candy here to illustrate the theme of her novel, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.candygourlay.com/\">\u003Ci>Tall Story\u003C/i>\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_6-e131b83ba3.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMaking things even more fun, it all took place at a super-cool venue, the Great Hall in \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church,_Oxford\">Christ Church\u003C/a> college (which you may recognise as the Hogwarts dining hall in the Harry Potter films). I was appalled to discover that Philip had only \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/2011/04/doing-time-in-oxford.html\">just been let out of prison that morning\u003C/a>, but he kept his ankle tag well hidden. (Shocking whom they allow into the festival Green Room these days.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_9-cb189e1597.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nYou can take a \u003Ca href=\"http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/christchurch/default.asp#\">panoramic virtual tour of Christ Church here\u003C/a> if you're curious. (Here's a \u003Ca href=\"http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/christchurch/movies/hall2.html\">peek at the actual room\u003C/a>.) My event wasn't until late afternoon, but I caught an early train to go hear Candy and Philip give a talk with the writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.laurenstjohn.com\">Lauren St John\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/\">Blue Peter\u003C/a> presenter \u003Cb>Barney Harwood\u003C/b>. Philip read from his book \u003Ca href=\"http://www.amazon.co.uk/Web-Air-Mortal-Engines/dp/1407115170\">\u003Ci>A Web of Air\u003C/i>\u003C/a>, Lauren talked about being almost squeezed to death as a child by her pet boa constrictor named Samantha, and here's Candy talking about volcanoes and giants.\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more photos under the cut!-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_22-a134fa9d3c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_15-4b5609208d.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Philip Reeve, Barney Harwood, Candy Gourlay, Lauren St John\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nThe three writers' books had all been shortlisted for the Blue Peter Award. Note: If you're like me and didn't grow up in Britain, Blue Peter isn't the colder brother of the Green Man. From what I gather, it's a TV show with a lot of perky people jumping around and doing stunts and making things out of bits of scrap you can find around the house. And I hear adults talking about getting the badges like they're knighthoods, or better. This time Lauren got the Blue Peter badge for her book \u003Ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/mar/02/blue-peter-book-of-the-year\">\u003Ci>Dead Man's Cove\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. Barney pointed out a kid in the audience who was wearing his own Blue Peter badge, so I'm wondering which novel he wrote. Barney even had his own team of fan girls:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_7-0ecb3f7c1d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI led my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/titus.php\">\u003Ci>When Titus Took the Train\u003C/i>\u003C/a> event in the Junior Commons Room, where a bunch of very young kids, their parents and I made adventure boardgames. For the game we designed and played together, they helped me come up with good and bad things that could happen on a railway journey, and the kids came up with ideas such as 'Dragon fire' and finding £100, and the adults suggested things like sicking up their lunch, strikes, and delays due to the driver exploding. Then they made their own board games and I saw one boy who had his curving track go from Japan to England, and a very small girl wound hers from a rabbit hole to the Forests of Saturn. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_21-14f13bf812.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nRather oddly, the room housed three enormous golden thrones, so of course we had to have our photos taken in them. Here my fab new publicist at Oxford University Press, \u003Cb>Jenny Younger\u003C/b>, and I pose regally with \u003Ci>Titus\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_4-c4cf15061b.jpg\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_12-b5e6913a4e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnother big highlight was seeing Candy's wild and wonderful family. They really are about as fun as one family can be. (And they let me jump on their giant trampoline until I cripple myself.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_8-61808d0a75.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nGo read \u003Ca href=\"http://candygourlay.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-blue-peter-panel-at-oxford-literary.html\">Candy's blog post about the festival here!\u003C/a> And don't miss \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/2011/04/doing-time-in-oxford.html\">Philip's prison notes here!\u003C/a> \\r\n\\r\nIt was great to see some familiar faces from the \u003Ca href=\"http://britishscbwi.org/\">Society of Children's Books Writers & Illustrators\u003C/a>, including \u003Ca href=\"http://www.whoatemybrain.com/\">Nick Cross\u003C/a> and his daughter Eleanor (who proved she was a \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/335725.html\">very fine knitter\u003C/a> at my \u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i> book launch) and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.anitaloughrey.com/\">Anita Loughrey\u003C/a> and Joe. Fab illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidmelling.co.uk/\">David Melling\u003C/a>, who came along to the event and said he's been following my blog, which made me very happy. (Great to meet you, David!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_5-c10e660c4c.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Eleanor & Nick Cross at the signing session\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_lit_fest11_14-d6593f315c.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Anita Loughrey & Joe\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nAfter very fine G&Ts with cucumber slices in the Green Room, Philip and I went on a tour of Oxford's not-yet-opened \u003Ca href=\"http://www.storymuseum.org.uk/\">Story Museum\u003C/a>, but I shall blog about that next time... Thanks to \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nicolettejones.com/\">Nicolette Jones\u003C/a> and the organisers of the festival for inviting me!","2011-04-05T07:06:00.000Z","oxford-literary-festival-2",[],"oxford literary festival",1776628719966]