Joanne joins the literary festivities

EVERY year the Essex Book Festival pulls off the remarkable feat of bringing big name authors to the literary event, creating a month of varied, interesting and enlightening talks, workshops, and question and answer sessions.

This year, the likes of Germaine Greer, spin-doctor Alastair Campbell, BBC's George Alagiah, Alexander McCall Smith, Andrew Motion and Penelope Lively will all be at the festival, as well as a writer whose works have been read as well as watched all over the world.

Joanne Harris is famed for her novel, Chocolat, which was turned into a hugely successful film, as well as her follow-ups including Five Quarters of the Orange, Gentlemen & Players, The Lollipop Shoes, and Runemarks.

Her new novel Blueeyedboy, is due to be released in April, and Joanne herself visits the Essex Book Festival on Tuesday, March 30, when she appears at The Helena Romanes School, Great Dunmow from 7.30pm.

She explained the evening should be an interesting one, with plenty of audience participation.

"Normally I'll do a bit of a talk about my work, about the new novel, and then we'll have a question and answer session so people can ask me whatever they like.

"A lot of readers come to talk about other novels I've written rather than the new one – there are usually questions about previous works. We all have our favourite books and we like to ask questions about them, and these events are brilliant for that."

Joanne also expressed her delight that literary groups and societies have become so popular in recent years, saying: "It's just lovely to see so many reading and writing groups taking place. There are so many fans of literature out there with huge enthusiasm and it's just great to see.

"Over the past 20 years or so there has been more engagement in the form of reading groups and so on, and it's taken off in a big way. Reading is now a social event, and there's also a lot of contact with authors, which is great."

Joanne's latest novel, Blueeyedboy, is a dark psychological thriller set in the world of the internet, where nobody is quite what they seem, and every taste is catered for.

The lead protagonist, B.B., is a 40-year-old man who still lives with his mother about who he has murderous fantasies. These fantasies are translated into fiction and posted online to a site called badguysrock, where he exists as Blueeyedboy.

As we delve further into this cyber-world, we learn more about this section of the online community, with numerous skeletons in numerous cupboards, where various twisted relationships come to light.

Joanne said: "The internet is an interesting topic to start with. In a relatively short space of time it has evolved into something so much more than just a learning tool – you can do almost anything on there.

"It has changed the way many of us interact – we talk to people in different ways – and there are potentially so many things that could happen, so many things that could take place."

Talking about her research for Blueeyedboy, Joanne said: "Under a pseudonym I made a number of online friends, wrote a great deal of 'fanfic', and began to take an increasing interest in the way people interact online, the communities they create and join, and the way they choose to portray themselves.

"I began to understand that the small communities that have always informed my writing also exist in the virtual world, with the same little cliques of insiders, outsiders, gossips, liars, exhibitionists and bullies as in the real world.

"I understood too, how emotionally dependent people can sometimes become on their virtual friends and their virtual communities, even though there can be no way of knowing how honest these avenues of communication really are."

The evidence is that there will be plenty of potential for in-depth discussion about a range of topics when Joanne takes centre stage at Helena Romanes school, and you can make your booking at www.essexbookfestival.org.uk or 01206 573948.

The Evil Seed, 1989

Sleep, Pale Sister, 1993

Chocolat, 1999

Blackberry Wine , 2000

Five Quarters of the Orange, 2001

Coastliners, 2002

The French Kitchen, 2002

Holy Fools, 2003

Jigs & Reels, 2004

The French Market, 2005

Gentlemen and Players, 2005

The Lollipop Shoes, 2007

Runemarks, 2007

Blueeyedboy, due April 2010