Edward Kay

After two years of plotting, writing, re-writing, and re-re- writing, it was a huge thrill this week to see STAR Academy at last on the shelves at my favourite booksellers! In fact, it was such an incredibly long if enjoyable process creating the novel that seeing it mutely on display seemed perhaps too staid an introduction (especially in contrast to the life-affirming, eardrum-rattling cries of my newest child, Alexander, who was ushered into the world July 29th). I can now totally understand Margaret Atwood’s decision to take Year of the Flood on the road and add some showbiz zing into the mix. After all, even a dystopian future is more intriguing with art direction and a soundtrack. By the way, she’s one of my favourite authors, so I intend to be in the audience to enjoy some of her dystopian vision first hand.
I will be doing store tours in October, and, once STAR Academy begins to build momentum, some public readings. When I was a writer on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, I used to love standing in the darkened wings just off stage during the taping, watching the audience to see which material “killed” (comedy parlance for “making people laugh” – a necessary reframing given the fact that ultimately the power is in the audience’s hands to decide whether you suck or not.) So I miss that public contact, and am champing at the bit to do a little live reading and hear how people react to it. But for now, after untold numbers of times reading it off a computer screen, I’m just enjoying seeing STAR Academy in its tangible, tactile, 3D form.

Filed under: My Blog by Administrator