Paul Kerensa among the writers heading for the 2020 Fishbourne Literary Festival
And that’s what he finds himself thinking he really ought to do: “I think I should find what I do and stick to it… and then my brain starts saying ‘Oooh, what about writing a crime cookbook?’
And off he goes, happy in essence to divide himself across a whole range of different writing, plus performing.
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Hide Ad“It is what you are supposed to call a portfolio career, different things that are supposed to add up to a salary!”
Paul will be talking at this year’s festival on Sunday, March 29 from 10-10.45 under the title Writing TV, Books, and Everything Else That Crops Up.
A writer for BBC1’s Miranda and Not Going Out among countless others, Paul is the in-demand comic who plays comedy clubs and cathedrals. He’s also one of the few to have appeared both at London’s Comedy Store and on Radio 2’s Pause For Thought.
Balancing writing and performing can be a little tricky
“It used to be easier when it was 50-50. I would be doing stand-up by night and then writing things for Lee Mack and Miranda by day. But now it is running wider. It is about a quarter writing, a quarter performing, a quarter doing articles and a quarter doing everything else. Today I am writing a CBBC sitcom and also writing a grown-up sitcom and also getting an article in and another pitch for a book that I am doing.
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Hide Ad“I suppose there is a restlessness. But across all of them, and I know this is going to sound really poncy, it is just basically a search for a good story.”
And in that respect he is changing. It used to be about the search for a good joke. Now the satisfactions are in creating a good character, in following through a good story line.
“But I will always crave a gig once a week or once a fortnight. My wife would want that just to get me out of the house!”
Another change is that Paul is dad to a six-year-old and a nine-year-old: “And that’s really helpful to have another couple of writers working for me at the dinner table, especially when I am writing something for CBBC.”
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Hide AdThe 2020 Fishbourne Literary Festival will take place at St Peter’s Place (Church Hall) and St Peter and St Mary Church, Fishbourne, PO19 3XT. Tickets are available for either Saturday, March 28 – £25; Sunday, March 29 – £25; or the whole weekend March 28/29 – £45; available on www.fishbournelovesbooks.com or call 07718 512860 for further information and help.
Saturday, March 28: 10-10.45am Kate Mosse – Taking Inspiration from the landscape – from Fishbourne to Chatres & Carcassonne; 11.15-12 noon John D Burns – Whose Land is it anyway?; 12.30-1.15pm Nicci French – Partners in Crime; 2-2.45pm Claire Fuller – English Country Houses in Fiction; 3.15-4pm William Shaw – See the world through crime-tinted glasses.
Sunday, March 29: 10-10.45 Paul Kerensa – Writing TV, Books, and Everything Else That Crops Up; 11.15-12 noon Deborah Moggach – My Writing Life; 12.30-1.15 Olivia Fane – Why Sex Doesn’t Matter; 2-2.45 Phil Hewitt – Outrunning The Demons; 3.15-4pm Miles Leeson The Roaring 20s: Past, Present and Future.
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