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Category Archives: Travels
Istanbul Book Fair
Hello blog readers! So here I am in Istanbul, Turkey, for the annual Istanbul Book Fair. I’ve never been to Turkey before so it’s a real treat to get to visit, courtesy of my Turkish children’s publisher Tudem, who publish ‘Boy’ and ‘Noah’. (‘The House of Special Purpose is also available in Turkish, courtesy of Dogan publishing house.)
Book fairs are a funny business. Very different from literary festivals, where I get to hang out with readers and writers all the time. At book fairs, you spend a long time at the publishing stand signing books and doing interviews, which is all very well, but you also get to run around the (massive) halls and look at the jackets for books and authors you like in their foreign translations. I’m fascinated by jacket design so this is always fun.
Salzburg
I’ve spent the last few days in Salzburg, a city I’ve never visited before. Despite the rain, which is incessant, it’s a beautiful city. I took a bus out to Berchtesgarden in Bavaria to visit the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s home through most of the Second World War. On the way back, stopping in the town of Berchesgarden to shop, I was thrown out of a hat shop for looking at the hats. (“If you want to browse, I have two windows for you to browse.”) Mozart was born here too. I don’t know if he had similar difficulty buying hats.
The fireplace Mussolini gave to Hitler as a gift.
The Eagle's Nest
Nice American chap who also got thrown out of the hat store with me.
Mozart's Birthplace
A wraith.
Australian Pictures
Some recent photos from my 2 months Down Under. I’m still here for another week yet.
Sydney Harbour Bridge, early evening New Year's Eve
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From the Pylon view at Sydney Harbour Bridge
- with my friend Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief
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with Aussie children's author Tristan Bancks
- At the Glenmore pub with my friends Conor and Cormac from Irish band Villagers
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- Out for dinner in Melbourne with actors Jackie Woodburne and Ian Smith
Last Day In Brazil
It’s my last day in Brazil today; tomorrow I fly back almost as far as home, to the Edinburgh festival for a few days. But in the meantime here’s a few more pictures of what I’ve been doing here. A joint interview with Sophie’s World author Jostein Gaarder, which was great fun, and a trip to Rio de Janeiro for some events there. The third picture was taken outside one of the big bookshops in the city. The photo of Christ the Redeemer isn’t very good but it was the best I could do in a moving car.
Mare di Libri – Rimini
So I left Bulgaria – which was fantastic and I highly recommend Sofia to those of you who haven’t been – and moved across Europe to the Mare di Libri festival in Rimini, Italy. Fellini country! Apparently Amarcord and I Vitelloni were filmed here and it was where he was born and lived.
With interviewer and translator, Teatro della Atti
Although like with Sofia it was a long journey, a plane from Sofia to Bergamo, a coach from Bergamo to Milan, then a 3 1/2 hour train journey across Italy. It’s no wonder I’m always exhausted.
Still, it was worth it. Only 2 days here but fitted lots in. Alongside the interviews, I gave a public interview and Q&A at the Teatro Degli Atti, which went very well, and then a signing of all my Italian language books – Il Bambino Con Il Pigiama A Righe (BOY), Il Ragazzo del Bounty (BOUNTY, obviously) and LA SFIDA (The Dare). 
My Italian publisher RCS/Rizzoli also own the rights to The Thief of Time, The House of Special Purpose and Noah Barleywater Runs Away, each of which will appear in due course. (NOAH will be published in October, around the same time as the UK edition, albeit with a different title: The Boy With The Wooden Heart).
And now it’s late at night, and the football matches are over, and I’m for my bed and the morning flight home… home… HOME!!!
Sofia
With the President of Bulgarian Jews (centre) and Irish Ambassador (2nd from right)
Today was my last day in Sofia. Last night was the main event of the trip, a reception at the Irish Ambassador’s residence to celebrate Bloomsday. A large Irish-Bulgarian presence were there on the night and were treated to a lively reading from Ulysses by Ambassador Keating, a reading in Bulgarian from The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and then I gave a reading too before we all repaired to the garden for food and Guinness!
This morning I had a meeting with the President of the Jews in Bulgaria who gave our party a tour of the Sofia Synagogue, one of only 2 synagogues in the country. Bulgaria was one of the only countries in Europe not to export the Jews during the Holocaust although there appears to be different views on who was responsible for saving so many lives.
It’s a beautiful city, I’ve really enjoyed it here. The architecture reminds me very much of Budapest and Prague although the weather is slightly bizarre – heatwaves all day long then, for an hour or so every evening, torrential rain, thunder and lightning. Then it’s all bright again.
Inside Sofia's synagogue
Tomorrow – on to Italy!
Bloomsday in Bulgaria
I’ve been in Sofia over the last few days, my first trip to Bulgaria. I was invited here as a guest of the Irish Embassy and my Bulgarian publisher, Locus, as part of the Embassy’s Bloomsday celebrations.
You can’t fly direct from Dublin-Sofia. How crazy is that? So I flew through Budapest, which brought some good memories of 2007 when we filmed The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas here/there. Hard to believe that was 3 years ago.
Onwards to Sofia then, which is very hot, and a round of interviews, morning television talk shows and radio spots. Particularly enjoyable was the trip to the National Library for a special Bloomsday event, where a copy of The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and The House of Special Purpose were donated to the libary, along with a copy of Ulysses and Geoffrey Keating’s History of Ireland, which was apparently the first history of Ireland to be published and was donated by the Ambassador who, in a curious twist, happens to be also named Geoffrey Keating.
Display at Bulgarian National Library
A twist worthy of a Jonathon Coe novel, indeed, whose ‘Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim’ has kept me sustained over the last 48 hours. Out with some writer friends recently, we each made a list of the 10 writers without whom life would be much more drab. Jonathan Coe was near the very top of my list. 
Last Days in Canada
My last couple of days in Canada were filled with some radio interviews and two really enjoyable events. The first was a ‘breakfast and books’ event at the Sheraton Hotel on Sunday morning. Six authors, including fellow novelists Joanne Harris and Steven Heighton, all spoke about their new books to an audience of about 250 while trying to wipe the remains of sausages, eggs and muffins off our faces. I spoke about THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE and there seemed to be a lot of interest in Russian history among the audience.
Then on Monday morning I gave a talk at the Jewish Public Library about THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS – a really enjoyable morning that could have gone on for hours more there were so many questions.
Monday afternoon and evening gave us a chance to do some final sightseeing in Montreal and now, today, it’s off to the airport for home and Zaccy the dog.
Montreal
The third and final part of my North American trip finds me in Montreal for the next few days and if you’re interested in coming to hear me talk, I’ll be at the Sheraton Centre on Sunday morning for the Paragraphe Book Store‘s ‘Books & Brunch’ event and the Jewish Public Library on Monday morning at 9:30 am.
Toronto
I’ve arrived in Canada! Never been here before but always wanted to come. Back in my bookselling days I used to go to the Canadian embassy in Dublin every year to man the bookstall on Canada Book Day and I’ve always had a great interest in Canadian literature. (Indeed, the best novel I’ve read so far this year is by a Canadian writer, The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon). I used to have a great friend from Canada too who has got lost along the line somewhere: Mike Caesar, where are you?!
So I’m here for a day of media interviews on Tuesday and some readings on Wednesday, notably the Harbourfront Festival on Wednesday evening before heading to Montreal for more of this. Yesterday we had a free day though and got to explore the city – a ferryride around the harbour, a trip to the CN Tower, the world’s tallest building from where the views are spectacular, and then a little retail therapy in the late afternoon. 
