Whimsical Weekend

I attended several author interviews this weekend starting with Willy Vlautin who was at the store on Thursday night to promote his book Lean on Pete. I had no idea who he was or that he had written several novels or that he was the lead singer of country band Richmond Fontaine. For this I thank Google.

He was a really friendly guy, that's what struck me the most and the fact that songs don't necessarily need a chorus. Go figure!Seriously, he sang a song for us which was basically a story with a little music. At first it was really weird because he just kept on going no breaks no nothing but it really worked. He talked about the book and why he loves writing but that's about it. It was short but sweet.

We also saw Herman Koch on Saturday whom the pumpkin loves from his Jiskefet years, no comment. I haven't read his latest novel Zomerhuis met Zwembad yet but I really loved his last book Het Diner. If you want to read some edgy and contemporary Dutch fiction, Koch is definitely the way to go. During the interview he mainly talked about the medical world in the Netherlands seeing as his main character is a GP. It was interesting and illuminating but I couldn't get over the fact that not more people are interested in hearing / meeting great authors.

I've been to a lot of these things lately and that's what still makes the biggest impression: if you're a Dutch author, don't expect a fanbase.

Next up was Annelies Beck, who I interviewed myself a few weeks ago so nothing new there but the pumpkin wanted to see her in person so I indulged him.