Neil Gaiman

Hearing a writer read their own words live is exceptional. Neil Gaiman is a mix between Mick Jagger and Cosmo Kramer. He was last at the Athenaeum interviewing Tom Stoppard. Now Alicia Sometimes is in the interviewer's seat, and she seems anxious as she introduces Gaiman, taking a while to warm up to him. Gaiman shares some of the joys of being a writer, such as exploring the idea of 'fluffy' people who aren't as fluffy as they initially seem, or monsters that are terribly fluffy. Alicia Sometimes confesses to Gaiman that she spent last week indoors with his works and chocolate (suggestive much?). When asked about directing, Gaiman shares, between blushes, that one of his directing experiences was with a very pretty lady named Amanda Palmer (his now wife) and that one of the things he likes about directing is the power of “because I said so”. One would expect a statement like this to ooze bravado but it doesn't. Gaiman is devilishly charismatic and hands down one of the coolest writers on the circuit; he delivers talks that are far from dry – rather, they are dripping wet. He's as rousing tonight as in his Make Good Art speech as he says, “The only thing I want my books to have in common is that they have my name on them.”