Lorraine Kelly on Woman's Hour, plugging her new novel...

[WinterTrees]

Oh joy - Lorraine Kelly has decided to bless the literary world with her particular brand of perkiness in fictional form. Anita Rani (of course) in full fawning mode, expressing wide-eyed delight that it's been endorsed by Marian Keyes (as if celebrities don't all quote on each other's books because it's all a back-scratching club) and that one of the main characters - in a wild swimming club no less - is Freya, who started life as Magnus, 'a wee boy'. Lorraine making much of 'women supporting women' and 'being accepted for who you are' 'being allowed to live as yourself' etc etc.

It's annoying enough that another TV celebrity with no writing background has been given a premier publishing slot with the marketing budget, PR platform and retail shelf space that will now not be available to writers who make an increasingly precarious living from books. Even more galling that she's used this uneven playing field to promote her luxury beliefs and transmit her virtue signalling to a captive audience in a cosy, twee fictional setting where the likes of Isla Bryson and Amy George can be conveniently airbrushed out of existence. And to pretend she cares about empowering women.

She does, but she's replying to a post about Walliams, and most other people talking about abysmal celebrity writers for children are talking about Walliams, so I was curious to find out if Baddiel is also a duff writer or if it was a mistake.

If it helps, my bookworm likes David Baddiel books!.

Is it supposed to be a children’s novel? It reads like one.

I also love how Freya’s/Magnus’ transition takes up about half a page.

not a single incident of bullying/ name calling or old people not understanding

It was David Baddiel! Dull drivel that went on far too long. Compared to the next book I read them by Katharine Rundell - they couldn’t wait for bedtime to hear what happened next.

Thanks!

@WinterTrees

horrified but not surprised.

I wonder if this trend will impact on our national love of literature?

One thing I am noticing that i s that if children are moving away from the celeb books there is an underlying sense that some how that is intellectual snobbery and reading say 'dark materials' or 'hunger games' shows a 'nerdy' taste.

I fear that this culture may seem into adult book reading where picking up a classic or good modern fiction will be viewed as a kind of elitism, a little like saying to listen to radio 4 or watch BBC 4 and people will not want the label associated with this.

celeb culture is so insidious isn't it and I can see the mutual praise between celebs we constantly are subject to gaslighting the nation into believing the celeb book is both of quality and authentic.......

sod getting a first at Oxford as being some sort of indicator of being adept at the language or literature I have been on I am celeb, strictly, the one show etc. so I obviously have the credentials. ( Not that you need a uni degree I am just putting the point that you have a great talent for writing which will be drowned out).

Katherine Rundell is a brilliant writer - I've just Super-infinite which is excellent.

If it's any comfort, I work in a school where a lot of the DC read solid stuff. Admittedly it's a school where the teachers tend to quietly ditch any David Walliams or Captain Underpants books that appear in the bags of books that parents bring in when weeding their kids shelves. But even the 'home' books are very strong on exciting stories and a lot are well-written. JKR is still huge (at one point something like 13 of a Y4 class were reading one or other if the HP series). Y6 currently strong on pony stories (which often have a strong element of being responsible and persistent and caring - not much different from the ones I read at the same age), adventure stories (making good decisions, taking risks for the greater good) and His Dark Materials. For sure there is dross out there (some of which gets the weaker readers reading) but there is a lot of modern children's fiction which is either okay, decent, or very good. Do not despair!

Richard Osman said on a podcast that he knew he’d get a book deal as a celeb because you don’t actually need to sell that many books to make a profit. Obviously his books have become massive, but it sounds like celeb books are profitable even with more modest sales which explains a lot.

She was plain embarrasing on Graham Norton, totally out of place and I have no idea how she got a place on the sofa!

I wonder what the Shetlands have done to offend her, so that she would inflict this turgid shite on them?

I've just seen this -on this site - advertised as a 'perfect gift for Mother's Day'.

Really, we don't even get a day to ourselves, but we have to share it with some man called Magnus in a frock?

Unless she's interviewing Professor Stock.

Then her kind, twee, giggly persona instantly turns cold and rude.

Am I wrong in thinking her daily TV persona is not the real thing but as fake as a trans woman's tits?