Neil Gaiman October 2008

Cult author and screenwriter, Neil Gaiman, swapped his sunny Los Angeles home to come to Edinburgh to promote his latest novel for children, The Graveyard Book.

The event was not only Neil's only Scottish event exclusivley for children but also the first time he had spoken to an audience of children! In a world exclusive Neil captivated the children with a reading from The Graveyard Book as well as a Q&A session before signing copies of his book.

In another exclusive you can hear Celia (Children's Team) interviewing one of her writing idols, Neil Gaiman on Listen Up!

"Writing is acting for shy people" - Neil Gaiman

Pupil Comments

I really liked the Neil Gaiman talk at the Filmhouse Cinema. When we got in we could buy books by Neil - which I did. I thought they were great value, it was also good that we could get a copy of the Graveyard Book before the actual release date. The seats were very comfy and it was only a short wait until Neil Gaiman came on the stage. The talk was great, Neil sounded very relaxed and like he was talking directly to us, it was really funny too, I especially liked the bit where he talked about what distracts him when he is writing. Neil read from some of the book which gave me a good idea of what it was about, also explaining the background of the story and how he got the idea. We got our books signed by the author and we got our name written in a tombstone drawn by the author. Overall I though the talk was great and I really enjoyed it. The hour flew by and I will definitely be looking out for more Neil Gaiman books!
Scott, 13, Lenzie Academy

I really enjoyed coming to listen to Neil Gaiman because I found it really inspiring and helpful. The moment I got home I wanted to write, and also to tell my family all about it. Even though he seemed nervous, he talked clearly and I could understand him well. The parts of his book that he read out were really good, and I didn't want him to stop reading it, because I was automatically drawn into the story, his answers to the question we asked were really good and often very comical. I liked how he talked about distractions and ideas for stories and I have found this very useful in my writing in the past few days. All in all I though he was brilliant and would love to hear him again.
Heather, 14, Queensferry High