Neil Gaiman!

Last night I went to see Neil Gaiman read and speak at the Gershman Y. For those who don't know, Gaiman is one of my favourite authors (along with Terry Pratchett, Lindsay Davis, Robin McKinley, and a few others). Gaiman is on a tour across the US reading a chapter of his new book "The Graveyard Book" at each stop. Last night was Chapter 2 - The New Friend. He read the chapter in it's entirety (took about 45 minutes) and the audience was engrossed all the way through. He's a fabulous reader and storyteller (and this is coming from a girl who falls asleep within the first 5 minutes of an audiobook no matter how interesting). He makes each character sound different without using silly voices (although his portrayal of the Sleer was actually chilling) and he has a fabulous way of engaging the audience and bringing the test to life. Yes I'm a fangirl, but I swear it's the truth.

Here's a blurry photo of him reading:



After the chapter we watched a trailer for the movie version of Coraline and then Gaiman came back out to answer questions that had been handed in by the audience earlier.

All in all it was a fabulous night, and Gaiman ranks right up there in terms of public speaking with Pratchett (who I introduced at the library a few years ago). I've never heard someone who was so good at public reading before.

If you want to follow along on the tour, the Mouse Circus website is posting a video of each chapter read along the tour by Gaiman. By the end of the tour you will be able to see him read the whole book