Edinburgh International Book Festival: Neil Gaiman & Chris Riddell

It’s a difficult proposition to ask the writer and illustrator of a children’s book to discuss their work in front of the kind of mixed-age audience that attended this event. Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell were in conversation regarding a tenth anniversary edition of Coraline, with a crowd seemingly comprised of readers who were now adults, but had been children when the book first appeared; children of various ages who had recently read the book; fans of Gaiman’s oeuvre generally; and a smattering of assorted literary types, perhaps expecting the usually probing and in-depth discussion these events normally consist of. Throughout it seemed there was a kind of negotiation occurring between Gaiman and Riddell in which they were conscious of not going in to too much depth and complexity regarding their respective processes. This was of course understandable but perhaps left the older members of the audience a little unsatisfied. Yet, the decision to conduct the whole thing in a very inclusive and light-hearted manner seemed the most sensible in the end. At one point Gaiman read from the book whilst Riddell illustrated it live; the speed and quality of the projected image impressing all in attendance. It was during the Q&A however that one got a feel for why Gaiman writes so well for multiple age groups and why Coraline has become a modern classic. Despite his disheveled, vaguely gothy appearance (think a more handsome Tim Burton), he engages with and understands children very well. Asking for a question from a ‘little person’ in the audience he listened to what the young fan wanted to know with the same fixed, humble attention he gave the adults and then answered in a way both comprehensible and interesting to all in attendance. In this exchange one truly got a sense of why a book like Coraline has appealed to people of all ages. Gaiman understands and respects his audience, and in return they love his work. [Ryan Rushton]