Top Ten Tuesday: The Authors I Want to Meet

This week’s TTT, hosted by The Broke and The Bookish as always, is about the authors we’d like to meet. I have a very bad record of making myself look like a tool in front of even vaguely famous people, so I think any conversation I would have with any of these people would be incredibly embarrassing, but I can dream.

Margaret Atwood
Obviously Maggie A is top of this list. The Handmaid’s Tale (as I have mentioned once or twice) is one of my favourite books of all time, and the book and Atwood herself have been huge influences on me since I was 16. I saw her speak a few months ago and she was hilarious, so, if I was able to conquer my famous-person-phobia and actually talk to her, I know it would be amazing.

Alain Mabanckou
I’ve become quite obsessed with Alain Mabanckou this year, reading his novels Broken Glass and Memoirs of a Porcupine, as well as the non-fiction The Lights of Pointe-Noire. His writing just makes him seem like an incredibly interesting person.

Simon Armitage
Any fellow English teachers reading this will instantly nod knowingly and say some variation of “mmm-hmm” because Armitage is the number one heart-throb of our tribe. I have seen him read and discuss his poems but was, unfortunately, in the company of my sixth form class at the time, so was unable to chase him backstage or ask him to sign my underwear.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Obviously, I would love to meet Adichie. I love her books and she’s a really fascinating speaker too. I would perhaps take advantage of this fictional meeting to talk to her about making unfortunate statements about experiences beyond her own too…

Shirley Jackson
Yes, I know she’s dead, but I’m not that likely to meet any of these living writers either, am I? I’m reading my way through all of Jackson’s novels and becoming increasingly fascinated with the writer herself. I have found so many feminist subtexts in her work that I am convinced she was writing about feminism before it was really a thing.  If I bring her back from the dead, I can ask her if I’m right.

Jeff Vandermeer
I have about 7 million questions about the Southern Reach trilogy and only meeting Vandermeer will provide me with the answers I need. Also I could try to persuade him to give me an early copy of his new book and then I would do a happy dance.

Elena Favilli
Favilli is behind the gorgeous Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls which I’ve been reading with my daughter. I’d like to meet her essentially so I can give her an emotional hug and thank her for the small one’s feminist awakening.

Caitlin Moran
There is literally no way that meeting Caitlin Moran wouldn’t be the most fun experience ever. She is hilarious and cool and I feel like she would be a very good role model for me.

Nnedi Okorafor
I’ve read her novellas, Binti and Binti: Home, as well as the novel Who Fears Death, all of which are completely brilliant and fascinating. I’d love the chance to talk to Okorafor about her work; she’s a really unique voice.

Nick Hornby
Another longtime literary idol, I’d love to tell Hornby how much his books have meant to me, especially Fever Pitch and High Fidelity, which phrased so perfectly so much of what I’ve felt about football and music.

If you have met any of these writers, be sensitive about telling me; I might be too jealous to cope. Who made your list this week? Leave me links in the comments.