When Rhidian Brook was 23, he had a job in America selling butterflies in glass cases. Brook said he never thought he would become a writer but inadvertently found himself gathering content and stories. “My big break was getting ill,” he said, because he then had nothing else to do but write them down.
Peter Florence, Hay Festival director, discussed with Brook his latest novel The Killing of Butterfly Joe, a fictionalised account of his time travelling through the States. "The Welsh accent in the book plays a big role,” he said, referring to the narrator Llew Jones, a character from his own experience; Brook told the audience that he would often get sales from American customers who were charmed by his accent, who said they would buy his butterflies but he had to “keep talking”.
Much of the conversation explored the line between fiction and reality. “When you’re dealing with real people you have to tread carefully,” Brook said, adding that his book was only loosely based on reality.
Though he has had a long and varied career, Brook said that in the world of publishing it’s all about what you’re currently producing, to which Florence concluded by saying, “If you’re judged on being as good as your last book, I think you’re fine with this one.”
If you missed this you may enjoy event 413 Fictions: The Book of Joan takes on Sunday 3 June at 10am.