EVENT: Puffin Panel: Tales of the Unexpected

I was lucky enough to attend the latest Puffin Live event, subtitled ‘Tales of the Unexpected’, featuring Meg Rosoff and Kevin Brooks, held at their London offices on The Strand (which is a beautiful place to be!)

The evening started at about 6:30pm with some time to chat with fellow guests. I finally got round to talking to Darren from The Book Zone (for Boys)– who I have seen at several events but have never truly got to talk to. Darren was the only other YA book blogger I was aware of- but I also re-met the lovely Puffin Publishing Director, Sarah Hughes, who is very nice to me!

At about 7pm, Kevin Brooks, Meg Rosoff and Claire Armiststead (Literary Editor of the Guardian) arrived and took their places, and after a quick introduction from Adele, a Puffin Publicist,

Meg Rosoff and Claire Armitstead

the discussions were off- with a
brief introduction to their latest works (Kevin Brook’s Naked and Meg Rosoff’s controversial There is no Dog) as well as a reading. I myself have only read Naked, which I was blown away by, but I am now thoroughly intruiged by There is no Dog and will probably read it. At some point, at least!

Discussion points in this 45minute-long-ish talk included banning books, taboos in YA literature and disinvitation from school events (Meg Rosoff was recently rejected from a school she was scheduled to give a talk to in a very public manner due to the heretical nature of There is no Dog). They both had lots of interesting points to make, and managed to keep us entertained even when things were serious (it seems as if Kevin and Meg get on very well with each other!)

After the moderated discussion, the floor was opened up to questions and discussions which involved myself and another young ‘un (though I suspect she was older than I) talking about how the 70s setting of Naked affected our expectations of the 70s etc.

At around 8pm, the discussion was called to a close, and there was more time for mingling and eating some lovely food as well as talking to the authors. I got my copy of iBoy signed as well as my proof of Naked. I even bought a finished copy of Naked to be signed because

Kevin Brooks

my proof got water damaged! (Money well worth spent I would add…I thoroughly suggest you check it out!).

All in all, Tales of the Unexpected was a great event which introduced me to a book I really want to read (There is no Dog) and allowed me to meet the great Kevin Brooks. I had some great chats with all the people there (including a discussion on mo-town, which I had no clue about! Sarah Hughes cleared me up on that, much to her amusement…)