Here’s my latest video – the Biker Goddess stock signing tour to promote Kumari. I spent a day whizzing round the major Central London book stores on the back of a Triumph Bonneville clad only in a sari, a pair of Raybans and a dodgy leather jacket. Move over Isadora Duncan…

The International Rights Centre was similarly besieged with a constant flow up the escalators to its hallowed halls.  One agent I spoke to, however, preferred to walk through the fair, meeting up with colleagues old and new on the way.  This tactic  had already yielded her an impromptu meeting which would almost certainly lead to four or five good deals.  There was a preponderence of books about Robert Pattinson, the Twilight hunk, although my own publishers, Piccadilly Press, had beaten everyone to the punch and got their book out months ago.

There was no dearth of drink either – I left at 4.30pm and the wine glasses were already out.  There may be talk of a new abstemious attitude in publishing but here, at least, people seemed determined to remain upbeat.  The Fair is a dizzying experience even without wine and it’s almost impossible to take in all the titles on display.  I did, however, pay homage to my YA trilogy, Kumari, prominently displayed on the Bounce Marketing stand.

Of course this is a tough economic climate but I see no reason why books should not ride out the storm.  If anything, I would expect them to follow the pattern of DVDs and ready meals – sales of which are up as people hunker down at home.  What will sink us all is a giving-in to the general malaise that infects, and is propagated by,  the media.  Newscasters seem to take a positive delight in passing on the latest horrific recession story or of bandying around depressing figures.  Yes, things are bad.  But we can get through this.  And the best way to do that is to maintain a positive, creative attitude – a ton of which was in evidence at the London Book Fair.

The London Book Fair finishes today.  For more about it:

http://www.londonbookfair.co.uk

We now discover that in another, very different kingdom the censor has been at work only this time it’s for real. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has been banned in Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan country often referred to as the last Shangri-La. The only two other films to have received this dubious honour, according to Wikipedia, are The Life of Brian in 1979 (banned due to religious content) and Cannibal Holicaust in 1980 (due to animal cruelty). Ironically, if you click the link through to the Atwood article on the Guardian website you will see a banner ad for Benjamin Button.

I based the fictional Kingdom in the Kumari series partly on Bhutan and carried out some extensive research on the country and its history. Suffice to say that, as with other idylls such as the Maldives, all is not as it seems. Kumari was a goddess in a gilded cage and this is still very much the case in a country where everything is done ostensibly in the name of Gross National Happiness. I would argue that Dubai is not so different, ban or no ban. The gloss of its facade masks views and attitudes that veer towards the repressive. Censorship is never acceptable. And it does nothing to engender happiness.