Trio of authors give insight into their work at closing weekend of John O’Groats Book Festival
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Author Barbara Henderson told a Caithness audience at the weekend how she considers storytelling to be "a form of teleportation" that can take readers away from a situation they don't want to be in.
Barbara, an Inverness-based children’s novelist and drama teacher, was one of a trio of writers who gave an insight into their work as part of the concluding weekend of the fourth John O’Groats Book Festival.
She was joined by Jenny Colgan and Jennifer Morag Henderson at the Together Travel corporate lodge at John O'Groats on Saturday afternoon. They answered questions from James Miller, who chaired the session, and gave readings from their books.
Barbara is the author of six historical novels for children as well as the children's eco-thriller Wilderness Wars. In addition to winning two Young Quills Awards from the Historical Association for The Chessmen Thief (2022) and The Siege of Caerlaverock (2021), she has topped several national and international short story competitions and was shortlisted for the Kelpies Prize 2013.
She recalled how she suffered a “horrible accident” as a child and spent many weeks on a sofa recuperating.
“I was really trapped and I hated where I was," she explained. "The thing that got me through that was stories. There were moments when I could go elsewhere – I could be a pirate, or I could be a jockey riding a horse, or I could be in a boarding school in the Alps... you could go anywhere.
“I just remember thinking that was magic, there was a form of teleportation there. It really had a profound effect on me.
“My two sisters put on puppet shows for me and that also sparked a lifetime love of puppetry for me, so I became a puppeteer after university for a couple of years.
“So that was how I knew I wanted to write for children. I thought if there's even one child who hates where they are, and I can take them somewhere else, that would be really wonderful.”
Barbara is German by birth but, as she says, "Scottish by inclination". Her adult non-fiction book of the same name investigates a number of others who feel the same way.
She gave a reading from the book in which she reflected movingly on the result of the Brexit vote in 2016.
Bestselling romantic comedy author Jenny Colgan told how she was an “obsessive reader” when growing up in Ayrshire, adding: “I read pretty much everything that Prestwick library had to offer.”
She pointed out that the success of Helen Fielding's character Bridget Jones represented a breakthrough in fiction for women.
“It's hard to say now what a difference that made to women's writing and just to see yourself, or a version of yourself," Jenny said.
“I kind of saw myself, I wanted to read about myself, I wanted to write about the kind of environment that I was seeing.”
Jenny is the author of numerous Sunday Times bestselling novels and has won various awards for her writing, including the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance, the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year and the RNA Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year.
Her books have sold more than five million copies worldwide and in 2015 she was inducted into the Love Stories Hall of Fame.
Historical biographer Jennifer Morag Henderson revealed how writing "just seems to help me make sense of everything".
Jennifer, from Inverness, told of some of the discoveries she made when researching her book Daughters of the North: Jean Gordon and Mary, Queen of Scots.
She told the audience: “I always wanted to be a writer. I find writing is the way that I understand the world.
“If I don't write, my family tell me that I'm not much fun to be around. I have to write all the time."
“I'm not sure anyone says when they're little, 'I would like to grow up and become a biographer.' But people are fascinating and some of the stories in Daughters of the North, if you made them up, people would be quite worried about your imagination. There are so many good stories and if you can tell them and share them, I love that.”
On Sunday, Jennifer gave a talk in the 8 Doors Distillery about her biography on Inverness-born crime writer Josephine Tey.
The festival saw a change of format this year, with a programme that began in March. It has featured guest writers, music, storytelling, workshops and school visits as well as the John O’Groats Story Walk.
The closing weekend also included a film featuring storytellers Tom Muir and Bob Pegg, a session about the children’s book Finn and Friends and "Waulking the Tweed" with folklorist, singer, storyteller and author Margaret Bennett.
