Ask the author – Maggie O’Farrell
4th June, 2021
Maggie O’Farrell, author of 2021-shortlisted novel Hamnet, answers our questions below, and on video here
Q: How do you feel about being shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction?
I’m honoured and delighted to be on this year’s shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize. And what a shortlist it is – it’s a thrill to be in such excellent company. This is an award very close to my heart as I’ve read and admired every book that has ever been selected, not to mention those novels written by the man in whose name the prize is given. His work was a mainstay of my education at high school in East Lothian, and indeed forms my very first encounter with the genre of historical fiction.
Q: How did the people and times you write about in this novel first lodge in your imagination?
I first heard about the existence of Hamnet, the boy, when I was studying the play Hamlet at school for my Higher English exam. My teacher mentioned in passing that Shakespeare had a son called Hamnet who died several years before the play was written.
I was immediately struck by the echo of these names. What did it mean for a father to call a play after his dead son?
Q: Do you think stories about the past can help us to deal with the present and think about the future?
Absolutely. Only in examining our past can we come to an understanding of our present, and lay plans for our future. Writing ‘Hamnet’, and in particular the research I did on outbreaks of the Black Death, gave me a perspective on our own pandemic, and how fortunate we are, by comparison with the Elizabethans. They had no idea how their particular disease was spreading; they had no defences, no medicines, no vaccines to come to their aid. We have science and medical knowledge on our side but we are still, I believe, much closer to the Elizabethans, and previous populaces, than ever before. We can empathise more deeply with them, given the parallels between our pandemic and theirs.
Q: What has your experience of the pandemic been and has your writing been affected?
It’s been a strange year, in which time has hung heavily upon us, while also seeming to fly by. I’ve been very lucky, in that I’m used to working from home, so there was no adjustment to be made there; my family has all been healthy; we’ve had a roof over our heads and a garden to sit in. Homeschooling three children has been a huge challenge and has taught me a great deal of patience, not to mention increased respect for the profession of teaching.
Q: The 250th anniversary of Sir Walter Scott’s birth this year will celebrate his massive contribution to cultural life as a novelist, poet, playwright, designer, lawyer, historian and inventor of the historical novel. Does Scott mean anything to you, and do you see yourself continuing his storytelling tradition in any way?
I would never be so presumptuous as to claim to be following in Scott’s footsteps but this anniversary is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the life of the man who first devised historical and folkloric fiction, paving the way for so many writers. Scott has been part of my literary education since I was a teenager; I studied his books at school and again at university, where I wrote about him in my finals. In a slightly less cerebral way, his monument in Prince’s Street Gardens played a large role in my adolescence – it was the place I used to meet my friends when I caught the train up from North Berwick to Edinburgh. The sight of its beautiful, crenallated silhouette on the city skyline always makes me smile. I spent many, many hours hanging out there on the steps, with his statue looking calmly down.
Q: The Walter Scott Prize has a younger sibling, the Young Walter Scott Prize, which is a creative writing prize for young people (11-19 years). If you were asked for one tip to help young writers start writing fiction set in the past (before they were born), what would it be?
To begin with a map or a sketch of your location, real or otherwise. Maps are a wonderful way to unlock your imagination, to explore the surroundings of your characters, to root them in a time and place. And also, don’t worry too much about your first draft – put words down on paper, irrespective of whether they are spelt correctly or not, get your characters talking or walking or fighting. Press on. There will be time later to go back and fix everything.