Mandy, love and a free drink for Miriam

Hanging off Mandy Sayer's drink. Nice!
(she's fascinated by one of my stories here)

Okay, first thing. Embarrassing. Mandy Sayer turns up at the appointed meeting place (Beer Deluxe of course, everybody's appointed meeting place isn't it?) and a drink is ordered at the bar. Miriam does that thing where you turn your wallet upside down to make sure you've retrieved every last coin [you know, the gesture; it evokes the moths of disuse] and starts mumbling about  hoping she'd have enough change. Mandy immediately grabbed a lobster out of her own bag and bangs it down on the bar. Nice of her, but what the hell was Miriam thinking?

So, on with the chat but you know what Miriam's like. We're out under an umbrella in the cold, she's blushing a bit on the inside because she's been socially clumsy (she should be used to it by now - I am!!)  She's had a long day in the office, her shoes hurt and all the questions she prepared seem to fly out the window.

Luckily, there's a connection, kind of. Mandy's had a life filled with jazz - a strong connection with the music - and she's a writer who Miriam loves reading. We both really enjoyed her latest book Love in the years of Lunacy. Mandy's speaking today at the festival about The Fiction of Love on a panel with Craig Sherborne (Mandy says you've got to read his book The Amateur Science of Love. It's effing wonderful), Jo Case and Eleanor Catton. There's a few of those unexplored dark corners in gender relations in Mandy's book, we noticed. It's not a spoiler to say that the main character, Pearl, attempts and somehow pulls off a pretty good impersonation of a bloke through a large section of the book. We loved the whole thing actually the music, the setting, the relationship between brother and sister, the love, the jungle.

One of the things we like most about Mandy's writing is the way she writes so naturally and without affectation about odd behaviour. There's an acceptance behind this, that the human experience is rich and varied; the acknowledgment that a mainstream life is not actually the norm. Paradoxically.

So much for the interview. Miriam says 'thanks Mandy!' for the Gin and Tonic and for being so gracious about Miriam being a ditz. Miriam owes you one. I'll make sure it happens, don't worry.

Event details?  Today, Friday 2 September at 11:30 am The Fiction of Love