Video-books screened at Foyles bookshop, in Novel London Literary Festival
I was pleased to be invited to lead a panel in the UK’s most iconic bookshop, Foyles on Charing Cross Road in London, for the opening session of a brand-new annual literary festival—the Novel London Literary Festival, organised by Safeena Chaudhry. Other sessions included a live edit by Dan Holloway (whose developmental editing made a great contribution to The Beasts of Electra Drive, being finely responsive to that novel’s specific vision), plus a lively compering by Norma Cohen of many authors’ readings, and a demonstration by Safeena of festival sponsor Vellum‘s well-regarded book-formatting software.
In my panel, alongside screenings of excerpts from the video-book formats of my novellas The Host in the Attic, The Platinum Raven and Apricot Eyes, Kim Sheldon gave a reading from her novel A Hidden Legacy and Adam Stevenson gave a reading from his novel The Death of the Dream Pedlar.
The first of the three videos here below shows my segment within the panel. In it, the screened excerpt from The Host in the Attic is that novella’s teaser VI(xiii) “queasier and churning and aslant”, which can also be seen on this site; the screened excerpt from The Platinum Raven is that novella’s teaser 6(v) “her devastating, desert-eyed perfection”, which can also be seen on this site; and the screened excerpt from Apricot Eyes is that novella’s teaser 5(i) “mouths silent-screaming”, which can also be seen on this site.
(This video is also on YouTube.)
In addition to the above, there was a secondary screening of video-book excerpts, which occurred in a breaktime during the festival. The following short video shows three snippets from this secondary screening. From the novel The Beasts of Electra Drive, this video shows projections of teaser 53(i) “behind the skin of night” and teaser 76(i) “power and enormous love”, both of which can also be seen on this site; and from the novella The Platinum Raven, this video shows a projection of teaser 10(ii) “aquiver and alone on the Hollywood hillside”, which can also be seen on this site.
(This video is also on YouTube.)
The following video shows the full duration of the panel, in which the conversation ranged from the evolving forms of slavery across recent centuries, through the wider context of the eighteenth century in particular, to the journey a novelist takes in creating a novel.
(This video is also on YouTube.)
More information about this dynamic new annual festival, plus other videos and photos from its inaugural 2019 outing, are at www.novellondon.co.uk. Thanks to Safeena for inviting me, and to Foyles’ Events Co-ordinator Clive Judd for his expert help in making sure those video-book screenings behaved themselves technically. (All photos below are by Safeena Chaudhry, except the book display photos and two group photos by Rosina Chaudhry.)
An excerpt from The Platinum Raven‘s video-book format, screened in Foyles bookshop at the Novel London Literary Festival 2019
Safeena Chaudhry, Kim Sheldon, Adam Stevenson and Rohan Quine, Foyles bookshop, Novel London Literary Festival 2019
Kim Sheldon, Adam Stevenson and Rohan Quine, Foyles bookshop, Novel London Literary Festival 2019
The authors and presenters at the Novel London Literary Festival 2019
An excerpt from The Platinum Raven‘s video-book format, screened in Foyles bookshop at the Novel London Literary Festival 2019
Rohan Quine, Foyles bookshop, Novel London Literary Festival 2019
An excerpt from Apricot Eyes‘s video-book format, screened in Foyles bookshop at the Novel London Literary Festival 2019
Rohan Quine, Foyles bookshop, Novel London Literary Festival 2019
The Imagination Thief, The Beasts of Electra Drive and The Platinum Raven and other novellas on sale at Foyles bookshop, Novel London Literary Festival 2019
An excerpt from The Platinum Raven‘s video-book format, screened in Foyles bookshop at the Novel London Literary Festival 2019
Book display, Foyles bookshop, Novel London Literary Festival 2019
An excerpt from The Beasts of Electra Drive‘s video-book format, screened in Foyles bookshop at the Novel London Literary Festival 2019