Martin Amis, this year’s WordFest Banff Distinguished Author. Photo: Isabel Fonseca.
About 20 years ago I read a novel from the Man Booker Prize shortlist that rocked my world - Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis. Over the years, I’ve circled back to his essays and fiction many times. Amis writes sentences you never forget, like his description of 9/11 when he turns shark into a verb and captures the primal menace of that morning. “It was the advent of the second plane, sharking in low over the Statue of Liberty: that was the defining moment.”
So I was very glad to hear Amis was this year’s WordFest Banff Distinguished Author. Amis read to a sold out audience from his latest novel, Lionel Asbo. It’s a story about a homicidal thug turned Lotto lout, winning £140 million pounds in the UK National Lottery. He took the podium and said how pleased he was to be in the company “of the second-happiest people on earth.” His wry wit was in full display during an on-stage interview with Pakistani writer and journalist Mohammed Hanif. The Banff audience asked several topical questions of Amis including, “Who are the happiest people on earth?” (It’s the Danes, according to Amis, if you’re wondering.)
Later, in the hospitality suite, Amis mingled with WordFest authors and volunteers. A tall Canadian writer brought Amis a glass of white wine and asked, “Does it bother you that you are consistently overlooked by the Booker Prize jury?” With a sideways glance Amis replied, “It glows in the dark.”
