@ Edinburgh International Book Festival, on Thu 20 Aug 2015 @ 20:45
The title of this evening’s sold out event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival is ‘Mothers and Daughters: A Psychological Duet‘. Two award winning novelists present and discuss their latest books in which mothers and daughters play a big role.
Amy Mason is a writer and performer who has previously appeared in Edinburgh during the Fringe. Her show The Islanders (with Art Brut singer Eddie Argos) was a big hit in 2013. Amy Mason’s success continued, as her debut novel The Other Ida won the prestigious Dundee International Book Prize in 2014.
Esther Gerritsen also has had previous successes in literature and theatre. Craving is her latest novel and her first to be translated into English. The fact that her work hasn’t been published in English before is very surprising. Her previous novels have won several awards in her native Netherlands (including the Frans Kellendonk Prize and the Dif/BGN Prize).
Chair for this evening is writer and journalist Lee Randall who instigates a lively discussion on the role of the writer, motherhood, translation and the differences between writing novels and writing for theatre. Both the books in the discussion have similarities, as they deal with the strong and complicated relationship that daughters have with their mothers. The Other Ida looks at a celebrity mother and daughter, while Craving tackles the subject of death and caring for a dying mother.
The Other Ida and Craving are both nominated for the First Book Award at the festival. Tonight’s engaging and informative event definitely highlighted why these writers have already picked up prizes. Although both novels have similarities, they are diverse and strong first novels (a debut English language novel in Esther Gerritsen’s case). The readings this evening certainty gave a great taster into two interesting stories from two interesting writers.