Successful Irish-American author Michael Collins visits Prague for Bookworld 2004
The focus of this year's Prague Bookworld was on Irish, Scottish and Welsh literature. Among the guests at Bookworld, which was held at Prague's Vystaviste trade-fair centre, was novelist Michael Collins, who was born in Ireland but has made his name in the US, with books such as The Keepers of Truth and The Resurrectionists. Before the event ended on Sunday evening, I spoke to Michael Collins and asked him why he had come to Prague for Bookworld.
"Especially now, with the expansion of the European Union and that, I think it's more interesting here than in America. So I'm using this as a kind of stepping stone to come back from America."
How do you enjoy meeting your listeners? Is it enjoyable or can it be sometimes, I don't know, a strange experience?
"No, I enjoy it. I'm usually on to another book, by the time a book gets published it's a year later...I like to get the feedback from people. Reviewers have their own agenda, what you really want to find out is from readers, how they liked it; they have different interests as opposed to say literary critics.
"So I think it's a huge benefit to come to things like this and actually meet people who've read a couple of books, ask them questions - I would do that, start interrogating them."
Writing is a solitary profession - how much do you enjoy getting to meet other writers?
"I like it a lot. I've read a ton of books, but in terms of mood, personality, I think it makes a huge difference to actually come face to face with somebody, to remove them from the book that they write.
"I think it also helps literary movements develop, especially in America where there are no real festivals and everyone is in isolation. At least here you come together, there's a cross-pollination of 'here's a book you should read'. Everyone has a favourite book.
"I usually go home with around ten books of writers I probably would have never heard of and that kind of broadens your horizons."
You told me earlier you'd been in Prague for a few days - what have you seen here?
"I don't know, I must have walked about 25 kilometres, I've just walked everywhere...probably just the fascination with the communist legacy, the size of the place that we're in at the moment [Vystaviste], it's just kind of other-worldly compared to the experience in America.
"So, it's more or less just trying to reconcile this country, what it is; I didn't do any research before I came here. Just more or less walk around, look at the people face to face, walk into the small shops, eat not in the tourist restaurants...a lot of people can speak English, but it's more or less just listening to their accents, just letting them speak and just absorbing the country."
