Andrew Kay: Guards! Guards!

How things come around. My career in publishing saw me designing almost every kind of book, from the seriously academic to the academically silly, thrillers, romance, cookery (of course), fashion, poetry and kids’ books (perhaps my least favourite). I went from Weidenfeld & Nicolson to William Collins and then to Victor Gollancz.

It was there I first encountered the works of Sir Terry Pratchett, or plain old Terry as he was back then. I was handed a manuscript for a book called Mort and the phone number of an illustrator called Josh Kirby. I went away and spent the next few hours laughing uproariously. Pratchett made me read fantasy and like it. He made me laugh like a drain. If novels were drugs then Pratchett would be a pusher – and I was hooked.

Funnily enough, Pratchett fans pop up in the most extraordinary places. The least likely people have become fans, lapping up his weird world of off-beat wizards, glam witches, arch academics and unlikely heroes.

Any how – a few months back I bumped into my friend Sarah Hutchings of City Reads and she slipped me the word that this year’s book was Pratchett’s Guards! Guards!. I was sworn to secrecy and made to do so for a second time by the lovely Laura Lockington who is also working on the project. Now this is something of a coup.
Pratchett is big news – globally! He’s also unwell with a form of Alzheimers which must be awful for a man with such an inventive mind.

“The pen is mightier than the sword if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp”
–Terry Pratchett

To get his book as the City Reads project was a triumph – but now he is to make a rare public appearance on stage at Brighton Dome with a group of his creative cohorts. No doubt this will be one of the hottest tickets – not only in Brighton but far and wide – so book now if you want to guarantee a seat.

City Reads is such a great project. Last year My Policeman was the title, it was a huge hit and a talking point across the city. This year there are more events than ever before attached to Sir Terry Pratchett, and I am delighted to say that in my role as a food festival person we have been able to work with the City Reads team to create a Pratchett event in this year’s Autumn Harvest programme. For one night only we will be helping to stage an evening of Pratchett complete with Discworld food and drink and a live reading of the dramatised version of Guards! Guards!. Sir Terry will not be at that one but I think one outing to Brighton is probably enough for the man and privilege enough for the city.

I still read the books, they still make me laugh out loud and they are wonderfully timeless, so much so that his literary legacy will live on for generation after generation.

Terry Pratchett and Friends – UK exclusive. Sir Terry Pratchett will be joined by three friends from his multimedia production company, Narrativia.
Brighton Dome, Sunday 29 September, 1pm. Tickets from £15 (£12 concessions)Sir Terry is unable to do a signing, but books on sale, courtesy of City Books, will be stamped exclusively for this event. Doors open at 1pm.
‘Guards! Guards! Live: An Interactive Event With Supper’, Friday 13 September, 7pm–9pm, £24 Tickets: 01273 709709.