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Minette
has been rather busy lately. She took part in the London Book Fair's
Masterclass in Crime Writing. She spent two weeks in Sierra
Leone, where she was taking part in a project initiated by aid group
Medecins Sans Frontieres. And she has given several talks busy preparing for
several upcoming talks and guest appearances. Read on to find out
all the details...!
Putting
the spotlight on Sierra Leone
 Minette
recently spent two weeks in Sierra Leone as the guest of Medecins
Sans Frontieres. The aid organisation is taking writers to
impoverished areas of the world to draw attention to the suffering
in those countries. Minette's assignment while she was in Sierra
Leone was to observe the advances that MSF has made in that country
with its mother-child health initiative. During her trip, she met
with dozens of mothers and their children, and she even took part in
an emergency Caesarean that helped save the life of a young
mother.
Article
and video clip of Minette discussing her trip on BBC's Breakfast
show > >
The
road to Glasgow
 If you were lucky enough
to be in the audience on Sunday
14 March for the English PEN Masterclass in crime writing, then you
already know what the "road to Glasgow" means! If you
weren't able to be there, we'll fill you in: During the class,
Minette likened the experience of writing to travelling to Glasgow
from London. When you start your journey, there are dozens of roads
you can take. At the halfway point, your choices narrow. Once you
cross the border, there's really only one obvious choice. (Minette
is pictured with author Mark Billingham and The Guardian's crime
reviewer Peter Guttridge, who chaired the class.)
One
of our readers, Keith Walters, kindly sent us an excellent review of
the day's event. He's not related to Minette but she did suggest he
change his name to, oh, Billingham, so that he would be guaranteed
shelf-space at eye level!
Read
Keith's review > >
You
can also read an edited transcript and watch video clips of the
class on the BBCi's
Get Writing web site.
Minette
judging 2004 Orange Prize
 In
addition to her appearances and trip to Sierra Leone, Minette has
also been reading non-stop! That's because she is one of five judges
who were chosen to select the winner of this year's Orange Prize for Fiction. The prize,
now in its ninth year, honours the best novel of the year written by a woman published in the UK.
The shortlist
of novels was announced on 27 April, and the winner will be revealed
on 8 June in London.
Read
Q & A with Minette about her role as an Orange judge > >
Minette
answers your questions
Q:
In
your biography, you mention you have written a novella ("The
Tinderbox") and a short story ("English Autumn - American
Fall"). Have you written any others? And will either of these
ever be re-published?
-- Gene
in the US
A:
I had many romantic novellas and short stories published when I was in my twenties, but all under pseudonyms that I refuse to reveal! This is not because I'm ashamed of them, but because I don't want publishers to cheat my readers by using my crime-writing 'name' to publish a genre they may not like or feel comfortable with.
However,
under my name, I did write one crime novella, "The Tinderbox",
that was commissioned for the Dutch Bookweek. During that week, one author's novella is given away with every purchase of books throughout Holland. It's an honour to be asked to do it and very valuable in terms of onward sales of the author's other books. The story is due to be published in England this summer, but it has already appeared in translation around the world.
"English Autumn - American Fall" is the only crime short story I've written and was commissioned by Mike Ripley and Maxim Jakobowski, two good friends of mine, for a "First Blood" anthology in England.
-- Minette
We
hope you've enjoyed this issue of the newsletter and look forward to
your comments and suggestions!
--The Editor
MinetteWalters.co.uk
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