Over the course of October, from the 9th-25th, there have been numerous literature events taking place all over Manchester. From poetry readings to panel discussions n the makings of fiction books to workshops for aspiring writers.
On Friday 23rd, I sat in on a captivating discussion between two writers, Claire Lynch and Claire Dawn, at Waterstones Deansgate. It was hosted by Kate Feld ( Journalism Lecturer at University of Salford) and ran from 18:00pm-19:00pm.
The whole event consisted of a talk that lasted around 45 minutes and then the audience were given the opportunity to ask questions about both authors’ thoughts on their books. Afterwards, audience members were able to line up for a book signature from Adam and/or Lynch.
Both fictional novels have an overlap in themes such as separation, the relationship between a mother and daughter and coincidentally, the mother in both these novels share the same name, ‘Dawn’ as well.
The authors began with giving a brief summary of their own book and each reading a section to give the audience a taste of what their novel is about.
Claire Lynch read the first chapter of her novel to the audience called ‘An Unexpected Item’ and Claire Adam read an excerpt from near the beginning of her novel in Chapter 1. It was interesting to be able to hear the writer’s voice lifting the words off the pages and creating an audible experience where we, as the audience members can understand the protagonist’s pace and the author’s personal interpretation of the characters voice and cadence.
The host, Kate Feld, asked many questions to allow Lynch and Adam to express their thoughts and ideas on what went into crafting their novels and the inspirations behind them. One thing both novels had in common was that in both cases the protagonist was very young whilst attempting to make the most of a complex situation. Then later, looking back on the tragedy of it all. Adam recollects on how the ending was tough and that she knew ‘ it wasn’t going to be a neat ending’.
As well as hearing about the fictional novels, the talk then pivoted to learning more about the authors themselves and how they came to write their storylines. Lynch and Adam both recall how they started writing after they had children and how their unique pathways led to writing fiction for the first time.
During the audience Q&A, one of the questions that came up was ‘How would you feel about your book being televised?’ to which Claire Lynch responded that there are plans to and she has the pilot script and Adam reveals she has a film option for her debut fictional novel ‘Golden Child’.
Book recommendations from both authors that they have read in the past…
Claire Lynch:
Taken from penguinbooks.com
Claire Adam:
To find out about more events, head to Manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk | Manchester Literature Festival
