Kate Atkinson
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How does Kate Atkinson describe the role of fun in writing Our Noble Selves?
Kate, welcome to Waterstones Festival. Thank you for having me. I'm a big believer that in any art form, you can often tell if the artist is having fun creating it. And I get the impression that you are having a lot of fun writing Our Noble Selves. It really kind of comes off the page. Is that true, first of all?
Well, that is an interesting question because sometimes you're having fun and sometimes you're not. And I think if you're writing a book that you think... is fun to a certain extent and I think that helps, it's a sort of feedback to you, but if you could see the anguish sometimes in creating that fun you would wonder about it. I think the fun, for want of a better word, comes here and there. It's not something that can sustain you through a whole book. And for me, the fun isn't so much the satisfaction. The satisfaction always for me is if there's one good sentence at the end of the day. And I think that gives you the kind of feedback. But I do like creating the fun of it, even if sometimes it's painful to get that kind of lighthearted feeling.
I like being humorous. I like that humor comes across. Because to me, that's mystifying. Why would something that I find amusing or funny or whatever... You would find, it's like, what is that? I don't know. So I'm always really grateful that what I think is fun and funny actually is received that way. So I think, you know, fun.
What does that even mean? More
fun than some, let's put it
like that. Well, we will come at the end to talk about how it could very nearly have been a very different kind of book, because you share something in the afterword at the end. But the setting is 1951, and that is a significant date for some people to remember, which was when the Festival of Britain... occurred and this is where you've set it. Now I know that you are too young to remember the Festival of Britain, you weren't even born when it happened, so why did you pick this year, this event, for the setting for this book? What was it that sort of intrigued you? Well
I was born in 1951 but at the end of
1951,
so it was yet another big event that I just missed. And in fact, transcription is partly set in 1951. Behind the scenes of the museum is references to 1951. I don't think it's obsessed with my birthday. I think I'm more obsessed with what Britain was like after the war.
I
think I find that period really fascinating. But the Festival of Britain, I had the idea quite a while ago and then I realised when I was in the middle of writing it that we were coming up for the 75th anniversary and rather than thinking, oh great, I was thinking, oh no, people think I've stolen, you know, I've just seen this and she's gone, oh, I'm going to write that book. But actually the anniversary passed without very little brouhaha. So I kind of was quite pleased about that. I think... I think it was fascinating in that it was a national event and we don't get many. We get the Platinum Jubilee or we get a royal wedding. It's always very royal based, all our big things that unite us in front of the television.
Why did Atkinson choose the 1951 Festival of Britain as the setting for her novel?
And I think the Festival of Britain was just so not royal. I mean, I know that they were involved and there was a service to begin with in the St. Paul's and they opened it on the opening day, but that was it
really.
And I'm sure that was just duty done for the royal family. For the rest of it, it was for the people. It's a horrible phrase, but it was a festival for the people. And I think that was interesting because it's 51, six years since the war finished, and it really had been nothing but misery and bankruptcy and gloom. And so I think... I don't think it transformed anything, but I think it made people happier, I think. Because certainly all the feedback you get from the oral history that's in the archive is people, especially little boys, having a great time because they're seeing rockets, they're seeing science, they're seeing all sorts of interesting things. And then there's the fun fair as well, of course.
So there is that element, particularly about the Festival of Britain, that that's fun.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How does Kate Atkinson describe the role of fun in writing Our Noble Selves?
0:00–3:10
2
Why did Atkinson choose the 1951 Festival of Britain as the setting for her novel?
3:10–7:12
3
What historical details does Atkinson use to bring the Festival of Britain to life?
7:12–10:27
4
Who are the main members of the motley crew that organise the festival in the story?
10:27–14:00
5
How does the character Harry Flynn’s war trauma shape his arc in the book?
14:00–17:16
6
What purpose does the step‑daughter Veronica serve in Flynn’s personal growth?
17:16–20:15
7
Why does Atkinson blend real festival oddities (like the smoke‑grinding machine) with fictional elements?
20:15–23:05
8
What does Atkinson hope readers take away about joy, history, and national identity?
23:05–25:59