After plans to do a 'book tour' for "Dancing Eyes" ended up with Sophie mostly conducting interviews and book signings, the tour for "Grown Ups" involved a series of discussions in addition to the above. The picture below is from a book signing in Dublin, midway through the tour.
On October 14th 2007, Sophie appeared at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, eight days before the book was officially released. The picture at the top of this page is of Sophie just after arriving at the event, taken at the same time that she told your webmaster how good this very website was.
The talk, with Esther Freud, consisted of the pair being asked questions about their new books by a 'compere', on the basis that both books had a similar theme. Sophie also read a passage from the book, and after 45 or so minutes of chat, the pair fielded questions from the audience. The only revelation I can remember is Sophie revealed at this point that she doesn't keep a diary!
After the talk was over, the pair retreated to a "signing area", where they had to contend with the rather popular Griff Rhys Jones doing a signing on an adjacent table, with both of Sophie's books available for purchase and signing. Nonetheless, a reasonable crowd turned out for our belle, whilst Jamie Cullum uncomfortably wandered around waiting for it all to end....
After the talk was over, the pair retreated to a "signing area", where they had to contend with the rather popular Griff Rhys Jones doing a signing on an adjacent table, with both of Sophie's books available for purchase and signing. Nonetheless, a reasonable crowd turned out for our belle, whilst Jamie Cullum uncomfortably wandered around waiting for it all to end....
The next of Sophie's "on stage" appearances on the 2007 book tour was at the "Beyond Words" literature festival, held at the main campus (of three) of the University College School, in Hampstead, North London. The picture above shows Sophie before showtime just outside the hall where the festival was being held. As your webmaster approached, I was greeted with a "Hello Jason" - I was shocked that Sophie remembered me! One of those "once in a lifetime" moments...
Sophie had attended a school nearby, which may have been the reason she agreed to do this festival. In reality, it was a local festival, most people who attended the five day's worth of events were expected to be students and friends of the school. There were events throughout the day, but the evening events required a £10 entrance fee, donated to charity. Free wine and water was provided however! Sophie's appearance was the opening night. The event was billed as "Sophie Dahl and Justine Picardie in conversation", and like the Esther Freud event, both had new books out - in theory. However, Justine's book had been put back in the release schedules, so it became more of an interview, with Justine talking to Sophie about her book, with Sophie reading two passages from it during the course of the evening.
After 45 or so minutes, the audience were invited to ask questions. At first, it seemed that nobody was brave enough to speak, and Justine and Sophie were prepared to keep talking, but the questions soon came thick and fast, and eventually covered fashion, as well as the book. Sophie revealed she was not a fan of the weekly glossy mags such as "Grazia" and elaborated on her "no diary" shocker at Cheltenham by admitting that in her youth, she used to keep a diary consisting of other people's events! The talk, including questions, ended after an hour and a half, and as Sophie waltzed across the room to sign books for the crowd, I had recovered to ask her about whether or not she had appeared at the 2003 Fashion Rocks event, as she was rumoured to be appearing in the days leading up to the event, and a lookalike with black hair (or wig) did model for Matthew Williamson at the event. She never did attend, she confirmed before cheerily saying goodbye and heading off to meet her audience.
The book tour, technically, continued for many more months - involving TV interviews, the odd Xmas lights switch-on (the picture above is from one such event in Bond Street), and with the release of the the book in North America in 2008, more talks and signings (details are sketchy - my apologies) across the pond took place.
