Sarah Ash – fantasy author

 Wow! Utopiales is really something else! We were given a very warm welcome at the SF festival in Nantes. We were very impressed by the exhibitions of artwork and the many fascinating discussions of topics relating to SF and Fantasy (although mostly SF.) I’m very grateful to my editor Audrey Petit for inviting me and giving me the chance to meet some French readers (always a great pleasure!) It was also my first time to see the new Livre de Poche edition of ‘Les Enfants de la Porte du Serpent’ in the paper, so to speak, and to admire its cover by the talented Didier Graffet.

 It was also a great pleasure to meet and talk Fantasy with Robert V.S. Redick (‘The Chathrand Voyage’) Fabien Clavel (‘L’Antilegende.’) and Anne Fakhouri, the winner of the Prix Jeunesse  for her magical two novels ‘Le Clairvoyage’ and ‘La Brume des Jours’ about a young girl drawn into a fairyland so very different from that of the ‘Rainbow Magic’ novels.

 And as a ‘Dinotopia’ fan, it was amazing to see a superb exhibition of James Gurney’s detailed and imaginative paintings – and to hear the man himself talking about his work. Lepidopters rule!