I went to hear Martin Amis (my favourite writer) speak at a Sunday Times Literary Festival event in Oxford yesterday. He was on great form and entertained us throughout the talk despite the efforts of an atrociously bad chairman. I don’t know what the chairman’s name was as he (perhaps wisely) didn’t introduce himself.
Mr Amis signed books afterwards and I was impressed by how unhurried and friendly he was with each person in the queue. I got him to sign a copy of his memoir Experience and also his latest novel The Pregnant Widow. He noted that my copy of the latter book was missing its dust-jacket. I explained I had lost it in Tel Aviv last month. “Tel Aviv?” he said, impressed. “That takes some doing.”
Ah, Israel banter with my favourite author. That’s a nice way to pass time. Not that the joy was confined to that. The woman sitting next to me during the talk had earlier asked me: “So are you reading English at Oxford?” Dear reader, I am 36 years old without a degree to my name. So I am quite happy for people to mistake me for an Oxbridge undergraduate.
In the name of political correctness, do we not say “chairperson” or simply, “chair”? Perhaps I am lost in a student politics time warp, from an age where saying “chairman” would be deemed a crime comparable with murder of babies.
… mmm. I’ll be musing a little upon Amis’s “Experience” myself in the not-too-distant future. Maybe we can compare notes. Meanwhile, if you see this while in Israel and want to contact me with a view to visiting Karmiel, just email me at msniwood@googlemail.com.