Leigh Bardugo Event

 

Hey everyone so on October 25th I went to Leigh Bardugo’s talk in Edinburgh and I am so glad I did.

Yay for @Clo for talking me into it!

My husband was supposed to come with me, not for moral support but so I could use him to get two more books signed, and so he could finally see what his wife does when she’s off with her notepad to an author event. And also because Leigh Bardugo is amazing, but, we all knew this.

So onto the event!

[I have no clue who that couple is and I am so sorry they got randomly photographed, but it was either that or more of that guy’s face to my left and that felt somehow more awkward.]

So that’s how close to the stage I was! That actually worked violently against me, but more about that later.

I’m sure you’re wondering, hey where is Leigh Bardugo in that photo? But I have to admit I try to not photograph or video when the authors are talking, mostly because I find it more polite for me personally and also because I’m too busy writing down things they say….more that than the ‘manners’ thing lolol. [I’m not at all bothered or like annoyed when others video or photograph, it’s not really any of my business, I just like to keep my focus since I’m easily distracted]

It was a nice surprise for me that Kristy Logan was the chair-person of this event, she’s so sweet and she genuinely seems interested in every aspect she asks about so it’s always a nice surprise!

I’d never seen Leigh Bardugo ‘live’ before so I was freakin’ thrilled when it turns out she’s absolutely hilarious.

Seriously, I’ve never laughed so hard at a bookish event. [I try very hard to be stoic and quiet and invisible. Jk on the stoic.]

They discussed SO MUCH.

And probably my favorite thing to come of it was Bardugo’s term ‘Goth Adjacent’ and we all now agree there should be a goth housing suburb, and I’m probably going to join her cult that she’ll inevitably make someday.

Interesting topics that they spoke of was the fact that once you’ve hit her level of renown as an author, it’s a question of is their a public voice?

Logan asks ‘has your voice changed for a public face?’

And Bardugo gives a pretty great answer, ‘The Process has changed [shut out world to write and now that’s more difficult].’

This is a great point, if your writing process, which I know for me is similar in that I shut out the world, is a bit of isolation, it’s so much harder when you’re as well known as Bardugo. She definitely has to take social media breaks and talks about how the fact that once you ‘hit it big’ sometimes it can result in being afraid of what you write as in being worried and playing it ‘safe’ a bit and ‘scared artists make bad art.’ And let’s face it, that’s true for all artists, we hear musicians who don’t take the leap they want with their music and sometimes that means they lose that magic we loved before because they’ve become afraid. So the same applies to all artists.

Of course this talk was also a way for us all to rejoice in Bardugo’s latest book, her first adult work, ‘Ninth House.’

The writing process for ‘Ninth House’ was a little different in that Bardugo had to face her memories from when she went to Yale, to see the reality and not just the good memories she’d carried with her.

I know I definitely keep hold of more of my good memories from Uni, and that if I were to look harder I would then suddenly recall all the not so fun memories too lol so I think it’s easy to be guilty of that.

Going on, Bardugo says that though this is a work of fantasy that the trauma in it, the monsters in it can be real and I have to say this gave me a lot of pause. Because it’s so true, aren’t the best fantasies the ones that we know have this kernel of truth, when the monsters are too plausible in their actions and minds? I mean we love the escapism but, the trauma and pain are still real, just in different ways. And I love that Bardugo does not use magic to ‘cure all’ this is another part that makes it more ‘real’ for me, when characters with flaws or differences keep those because not everything should be easily wiped away by magic, no matter your world building. If you take away the trauma your characters went through, they become a little less real, in my opinion. It takes away their growth in a way.

So, we got some heavy talks in between the laughter and cult making plans. Oh and of course talking about Ben Barnes. -Swoons-

Overall this was a great talk to go to and if she’s ever in Scotland again, I’ll definitely be going to see her!

Afterwards, when we all lined up for the signing, chaos ensued. I was on the side where the line was going to form and I was suddenly stuck, unable to get out lol, in the end, I was at the end of the line. Which normally wouldn’t have been a problem but I did miss my train…BUT in the end I met some amazing people and I was glad enough to have ended up where I did. Some great fellow readers that I thoroughly enjoyed talking with, and of course, getting the chance to say hello to Leigh and have her sign my edition of ‘Ninth House.’

Anyone else go to see her? Are you all joining the cult too?