Edinburgh International Book Festival: Laurie Penny
Both maligned and celebrated, at just 28 years old Laurie Penny is one of the most controversial journalists in the UK. She is appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival to celebrate the launch of Discordia, a fascinating insight into the author's firebrand, subjective approach to journalism. She sums up this approach perfectly: “I consider myself an honest journalist, rather than an objective one.”
Her honesty is unflinching, and she convincingly argues against the notion, proposed by the chair of the event, Channel 4's Faisal Islam, that she is “embedded” in the protest movements about which she frequently writes, and therefore has a skewed perspective. Throughout, she refuses to make broad, sweeping statements about the larger issues addressed in Discordia, which tells the story of the Greek economic meltdown through a mixture of illustration and reportage. Rather, she consistently brings the focus back to her intense, pointed prose, and the way she approaches her subject matter – by speaking to the people involved; listening intently to what they have to say; and, frequently, putting herself in the path of potentially life-threatening situations. Agree or disagree with her strongly left-leaning, anti-capitalist views, you cannot help but admire her bravery.
“There aren't very many illustrated journalism pieces any more,” Penny reflects, describing the genesis of Discordia, a collaboration with illustrator Molly Crabapple: “The magazines didn't know what to do with it.” Undeterred, she and the artist crafted a bespoke, illustrated e-book, and published it via Random House. Touching briefly on the new vistas opened up by digital formats, Penny offers the metaphor of a goldfish tipped from a bowl into a stream – the fish will swim in a holding pattern the same shape as the bowl, before finally discovering the stream. This, she believes, is what is happening with publishing – we are still in the holding pattern, but can sense the widening horizons and possibilities of digitally-enhanced and presented content.
The substance of the book, which could be described as a 'gonzo' piece (without the drugs), is intriguing, told directly to the reader through acute observations of that long, hot summer in Athens. Crabapple's illustrations are powerful, particularly one image referencing the Norman Rockwell painting The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the civil rights movement – in Crabapple's version, a young immigrant child walks past the “unravelled swastika” of the fascist Golden Dawn in line with protestors demanding an end to racist public discourse and unfettered austerity. Other illustrations show slogans from the Greek protest movement: “In Spring we rise, in August they fall.”
Penny articulates a feeling that “people feel utterly uninvested in democracy” across Europe, and speaks of her surprise at the fractious nature of Greek public protest, where “Greeks will burn Athens because it is Tuesday, and there is nothing to do,” and will use “riots and crisis as a social outlet.” She draws comparisons between the Greek protests and the Occupy movement, and the London riots, both of which she has written eloquently about in the past. Her target, as always, is the notion that “the transnational rich are being set against the poor.” As a spokesperson opposing this outrage, she is one of the most intelligent and passionate critics we have.