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Tuesday 26 October 2010

Helen Simpson and Jane Feaver.

On Saturday I attended a reading by Helen Simpson and Jane Feaver.

Jane read a story called 'Dancing on a Pin' from her collection Love Me Tender which was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. Love Me Tender is described as a 'daisy chain of stories' in a review here and 'Dancing on a Pin' comes in for particular praise in this review. I haven't read Jane's writing, but I enjoyed her reading.

Helen read two stories from her collection In-Flight Entertainment, (reviewed here) 'The Festival of the Immortals' and 'Dairy of an Interesting Year.' It was really interesting to listen to Helen read. She reads in a measured, contemplative way. Despite having read both stories more than once, I was lost in her words and surprised at the time when the reading finished. Afterwards I asked her to sign In-Flight Entertainment for me. She thanked me for buying it and I gauchely informed her that I have every one of her short story collections. It was hard not to sound like Annie Wilkes after that, so I thanked her for signing the book and left.

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