| By Luci Cummings Joanne Harris, ex-teacher and author of 'Chocolat', 'Five Quarters of the Orange' and 'Holy Fools' came to the Oxford Literary Festival to promote her latest work, 'Jigs and Reels'. Unlike Harris's other works, 'Jigs and Reels' is a collection of short stories, representing ten years' work. She discussed her work with broadcaster David Freeman. Unusually, Harris says that she finds short stories more difficult to write than novels. In a novel the author is given more time to settle down and make friends with their characters, whereas Harris describes her new characters as extreme personalities.
The stories are a mixture of what Harris calls 'what-ifs' and characters or situations taken from her own life. Among the 'what-ifs' are beaches which only admit beautiful people and the hitherto unknown hiding place of ugly vampires (Blackpool). Among her other inspirations for the stories were her grandmother (whose fictional persona escapes from a care home to go shopping in London) and her secret addiction to certain glossy magazines. When asked if this collection was a second-best answer to publishers' pressure for a novel, Harris denied this. She stated that she did not react to such pressure, and that her publishers have wisely chosen not to exert any. Harris also discussed her novels. She described her first (Evil Seed) as the most poorly written of these, but still her favourite. Her love of the darker side of life was evident during the discussion, and comes across in the new stories. On the subject of her next novel, she stated that the subject matter is likely to be a departure from that of her previous works. She confessed to a fear of repeating herself. Nevertheless, with such a wealth of life experience and varied interests, her readers are unlikely to be disappointed.
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