Bookworm International Literary Festival 2012: Justin Hill

This year the Bookworm's Literary Festival has introduced us to to some authors we would not otherwise have read because they aren't as popular in the US as they are in their home countries. Justin Hill, a British author who now resides in Hong Kong, is one such writer. We had never heard of him, but the description in the program of his current book, Shieldwall, looked promising. A work of historical fiction, the novel takes place during the final century of the Anglo-Saxon kings before the Norman conquest. Seriously, does anything sound better than that?

We bought Shieldwall and added it to our pile of homework for the literary festival. Randy finished it well in advance, and I read several chapters prior to Monday night. I also watched a portion of Simon Schama's History of Britain with Myles to brush up on the historical details. We studied this period last year, in The Story of the World, so he was familiar with the Anglo-Saxon kings, and could remember some of the details on his own even before the Schama refresher.

Monday night at 8 pm, Justin Hill took the small stage at the Bookworm with a moderator whose name I also failed to record. For the next hour we were treated to more than just Shieldwall.




More after the jump



According to my notes, Hill said he had only set out to write one historically accurate novel about events leading up to1066. His research presented him too many stories and too many fascinating characters to limit himself to just one book. Instead, Shieldwall, is the first of his Anglo-Saxon novels that he hopes will become something of a legacy. It really struck me when he said he hoped that these become books fathers pass on to their sons. As he aspires for this series, in his words, "to set the record straight," for the English, I can see how Shieldwall and what comes after will find a home on many families' bookshelves.

Some of my notes from the talk:

• The background of the title surprised me, likely because I am not familiar with the world of book sales. Hill's publishers wanted a one-word title, something that would jump out at the supermarket customer from the rack. The title is great, representing the battle formation often used by the Anglo-Saxons.
• Hill grappled with defining English-ness, something that always is rather wishy-washy. He himself is from Yorkshire originally, and sees himself as from Yorkshire first, England second. However, he notes, at the time Bede is recording history there are definitely English speaking people. By 1000, around the time of the earliest parts of Shieldwall, England has become something special, having its own culture: identifying religion (New Israel), own language, strong belief in law and order. [My note to myself: At the time, and it really comes out early in Shieldwall, the title of King of the Anglo-Saxons was not a hereditary title, but chosen by a council of The Wise. Wulfnoth even ridicules that foreign idea of being born a king in Shieldwall]
• Battle scenes can be a real challenge to write. "He hit him and then he hit him back..." They work great on film. Shieldwall has a lot of scenes of waiting, waiting for the battles. Sizing up the other side, contemplating what will happen. [These parts of the book are fantastic]
• On the motivation for "setting the record straight," Hill notes that much of what we believe we know about 1066 comes from the Norman side of the story. During the Q&A, someone asked about Harold Godwinson risking excommunication at Hastings. Hill does not believe this to be the case, especially since the Papacy was not that politically strong in the eleventh century. He also points to the shear number of churches William built while he was king. It seemed suspiciously penitential for someone who supposedly had the Pope's exclusive blessing.
• His publishers have slated this as a trilogy, with the Battle of Hastings coming in the second book. However, Hill sees the possibility for at least two more, with one being about King Cnut and another possibly about Harald Hardrada. [Something very much to look forward to seeing] 
• Modern technology has helped a British writer who lives in Hong Kong write convincingly about the geography and topography of his novel without the expense of travel. Google Earth has been incredibly helpful. He sometimes gets high compliments from readers who grew up in some of these areas, telling him he really captured some essential, identifying part of the landscape, ironic to him because some of these places he's not yet visited.

Because we use (and are very enthusiastic about) The Story of the World series as part of our curriculum, we thought that Myles would also benefit from hearing the discussion from Hill. He was fascinated, of course. When I asked him what the most memorable part was, though, he answered as probably any eight year old boy would. "Do you remember when he read from his book, the part when Godwin really has to pee before battle?" Yeah, that. Upon further encouragement from me (meaning, "Come on, seriously? Nothing else? Nothing at all? Really? Just the pee?"), he volunteered that Hill said that many of the places are still there in England and you can see them, like Godwin's church.

Our family is very grateful that the Bookworm invited Justin Hill to this year's Literary Festival. He's a new author for us, writing on a subject that interests us greatly. We will be paying close attention to the release of Book 2.