|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Articles
|
||
|
Articles |
Ian RankinDavid Chadderton reports from the Edinburgh Book FestivalDateline: 24th August, 2008Despite having pensioned off his leading character Inspector Rebus and even though he was not recognised by one of the Festival's staff who churned him out of the front row at Julian Barnes's event, Ian Rankin is still a sell-out attraction at his home town's biggest literary event. Rankin said that he has had a good year since he was last at the Book Festival. He has seen the release of a Rebus 20-year-old malt whisky from Highland Park, which he selected himself and now uses for charity prizes, and a Rebus ale, which is Deuchars IPA with a secret ingredient, plus there have been two Rebus exhibitions in Edinburgh. The last Rebus novel, Exit Music, announced at last year's Festival, which came out in paperback last week, marked Rebus's twentieth anniversary as a literary character, originally appearing in Knots and Crosses in 1987. New editions of all of the books are now being released with added notes and maps. When asked whether we have heard the last from his famous detective, Rankin said that he was "still mulling that over". A new non-Rebus novel comes out next month, based on a story that he was commissioned to write as a serial for the New York Times Magazine, the first non-American to do so. He was originally asked for a spy thriller but persuaded them to accept a heist thriller instead which he originally conceived as a film that would be like Oceans 11 but set in Scotland. His publisher asked him to expand it into a full-length novel, which will be released as Doors Open. His most difficult recent writing task has been to create the script for a graphic novel. He has always been a fan of comic books, so when DC sent him an e-mail asking him to write one he jumped at the chance. He wrote it roughly as panels but not as pages, and when he finished it came to 1010 panels, but DC didn't seem at all phased by this and handed it to their artist who specialises in depictions of hell. It was rather like being a film director, as every detail of the frame has to be carefully thought out and documented before it is given to the artist. He has also written a fifteen-minute opera with Craig Armstrong for Scottish Opera; he was amazed at one critic's assessment saying he didn't think they had got under the skin of the main character in a piece that tried to put across a complex story in just fifteen minutes. He has written a novella as part of a scheme to create interesting literature for adults who are reluctant readers or who find reading difficult and has written some lyrics and even done some backing vocals for an Edinburgh band. His foray into the world of political journalism has included interviews with top Scottish politicians such as Alex Salmond for the Times and the surprise politician for the opening event of this Festival, which turned out to be Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He was a little evasive about commenting on the TV adaptations of Rebus, but excused this by saying he has never actually watched them even though he owns them on DVD, and will avoid seeing them until he is sure he has finished writing Rebus so that he doesn't have Ken Stott's or John Hannah's voice and face in his head when he writes. He deliberately gave very little description of either John Rebus or his sidekick Siobhan in the books so that readers could form their own pictures of them, but the TV version fixes a image for the viewer. He has a new idea for a novel which is currently just a seed planted by recent political events. He believes it is an exciting time to be a writer in Edinburgh as it is impossible to predict which way events will turn politically in the near future. David Chadderton
|
|
|
|
