2018 marks ten years since the release of comedian and best-selling author David Walliams’s first book, The Boy in the Dress. This morning he arrived on stage to a warm and receptive welcome from the audience, almost equal parts adults and children, who were there to witness a celebration of his writing career so far.
Walliams spoke to Gemma Cairney about the inspirations and process behind his writing and provided the engaged audience with two excerpts from his material - the short story ‘Windy Mindy’ and a passage from his novel ‘Gangsta Granny’, brought to life with enthusiastic and animated narration. At the end of the talk, Walliams was met by such burning questions from the audience as ‘What’s the naughtiest thing you ever did in school?’ and ‘Which writers would you like to meet at Hay?’; each question-asker was awarded with a signed box set and a huge round of applause.
If you missed this, you might enjoy Event HD9, Andy Stanton: ‘Natboff!’ and the Madcap World of Mr Gum, which takes place today at 4pm.