Titans of Text
CHRIS CONNELLEY listens and learns from two literary legends
The Hastings Book Festival returned in rude good health this year (its 9th, can you believe it?) with a beefed-up committee, a new set of venues and a supersized programme of 40-plus events, involving a cast of 80 across its 11 days.
Roger McGough at Hastings Book Festival
There was a strong poetry strand, too, and a focus on showcasing home-grown practitioners, in a town that has seen a flood of writers flock to our beaches over recent years. Poets appeared alongside old favourites and festival staples like the Book Fair, cult film night, and big-name signings in the form of this year’s headliners, David Olusoga and Kate Mosse.
The Festival has also developed a tradition of celebrating legends and heroes, in a local literary equivalent of the Sunday afternoon golden oldie slot at Glastonbury. The first weekend delivered rich pickings in this regard, as two elder statesmen took to the stage to talk about, and read from, their rich, diverse and extensive back catalogues.
SPORTS WRITER AND POLYMATH
First up was a late addition to the programme, Thomas Hauser, the 80-year old American polymath A-lister, who has authored in excess of 50 books. His writing takes on deeply diverse subjects from Dickens to global politics – with a particular focus on sport, and especially boxing. In 2019, he was inaugurated into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, the sport’s highest honour, having been hailed by former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis as boxing’s major chronicler.
In a reflective early evening conversation with Festival Director Dr Tola Dabiri, the soft-spoken Hauser explored his practice. Citing his exhaustive research as the most beloved element of his work, he noted that when that phase stops, the writing starts easily: his characters come alive on the page.
He went on to claim that his latest work, Sherlock Holmes and Mrs Rutledge, enveloped him so completely that he was literally talking to his main characters every day to develop the narrative. Though that phase has now passed, he admitted he “still missed them”, though not for long, as they’ll be back occupying his head space soon enough, given his intention to produce a sequel.
Hauser beguiled the audience with a series of pitch-perfect anecdotes about his sports writing, identifying his time working with boxing sensation Mohammed Ali – “a genuinely lovely, lovely man” – as his “most joyful experience”. He referred to Ali’s deep self-awareness, his understanding of his own presence, and of his desire when he met fans for that to be the most memorable and positive experience possible for them. Hauser also referenced Ali’s assiduous study of the Qu’ran, which went as far as copying passages from it, and talked about his own commitment, when writing Ali’s biography, to recognise the man’s flaws alongside the heroism.
POET CONTINUES TO PLEASE
Sunday’s showstopper, poet and broadcaster Roger McGough, clocked in at almost a decade older than Hauser, and is still working, with a new book in preparation to mark his 90th birthday next year. A lithe and lively Liverpudlian, his stellar resumé includes authoring over 100 books, a stint as a musician in cult band Scaffold, and a quarter century of service as presenter of Poetry Please on Radio 4.
Admitting this was his first visit to Hastings, he concluded an afternoon of verse with a bravura hour-long performance mingling his greatest hits with some new work, in effect tracking the story of his life from his early years as a war baby in the Blitz, to becoming a national treasure, taking in family, work, changing times, nostalgia, tech and, of course, ageing. Often funny, sometimes sad, and always thought provoking, McGough’s high energy set demonstrated why he is held in such high esteem by so many, and how he manages to reach out far beyond the usual suspects to enchant audiences of all ages.
So, two men with long lives and compelling stories justifiably celebrated in what organisers are describing as the most ambitious and well-attended Book Festival season yet.
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