I thought it only fair to let you know that I’m deep into preparations for a Sofie Laguna festival of my own making. See, I started reading The Choke a couple of days ago, soon to be released by Allen and Unwin (September 1st). In addition to reviewing this new release by Sofie, I’ll also be interviewing her for the Australian Women Writers blog. Whenever I’m going to interview an author, I tend to read their novels a little differently. I’m looking for possible angles that I can frame questions out of, details I can ask them to expand on; things like that.

The Choke is utterly brilliant. I haven’t finished it yet, and my review won’t appear until after the release date, but I feel it safe to alert you to the fact that this novel is unspeakably sensational.

Which is why I have to embark on a festival of Sofie Laguna. I need to read more of her work. Not only because of how skilled and intuitive she is as a writer, but also because I’m suffering from a little bit of stage fright at the moment. I’ve got all of these questions that I’d love to ask her for my interview, but the blinding bright lights of her talent have me freezing like a rabbit in the headlights.

All of my questions are lame. None of them are phrased to do her work justice. I am going to embarrass myself, put AWW to shame and never be allowed to interview anyone again.

Highly unlikely, but my inner critic is really going to town right now. To combat this, I’m going to read Sofie’s previous two novels for adults, The Eye of the Sheep and One Foot Wrong, in a bid to know her work so thoroughly that I can tell that inner critic to take a hike and just get on with business.

I’ll see you on the other side with three reviews and a cracking interview.