Bienal do livro 2015

A few weeks ago I was in Brazil  to attend  the Bienal Do Livro.

I was impressed by the scale of the festival, it occupied three large pavilions and ran from the 3^rd of September to the 13^th.   It was very well organised and appeared to be busy at all times of the day and was an interesting festival to be part of.  At my talk I wore headphones as did those in the audience who didn’t speak English. There was a translator in a booth at the back and when I spoke she translated into Portuguese and when I was asked a question she translated into English. It was very efficient and apart from me forgetting sometimes to take my headphones off so when I spoke I could hear myself in Portuguese it was a very seamless way of communicating.  “Just like the UN!’ someone said, and when I was escorted back to my hotel by a couple of body guards I did feel like a dignitary!  All authors who were presenting were asked to take a selfie with the audience behind them – it may come as a shock to many that I could reach 70 and never take a selfie but this was my first ever.

My publishers Bertrand were great hosts and it was lovely to meet them.  Brazilian readers are very enthusiastic and I signed for three hours and took part in a lot of selfies ( I didn’t take these ones ).  I met some lovely people and many of them had travelled a long way to be there, it is very humbling to be confronted with that level of commitment and I was very touched by it.  Later in the week I went to Sao Paolo, where I experienced rain equal to Lancashire rain, but despite this  many people turned up to meet me and have their books signed and again I was truly appreciative.

Danny Mainzer who was the artist behind the Spook lego presented me with the original photo which I now have hanging on my study wall    Maria Clara showed me the tattoo on her back. What can I say, Grimalkins scissors seem made for this.   I was speechless!  At a signing a few years ago I met a young man who had the Spook icon tattooed on his arm.
I had a couple of days at the end of my festival commitments to explore a little of Brazil, but as ever never long enough and I would definitely like to go back.