Interview - Audrey Niffenegger: Now for something completely different

IT feels like the word "best-seller" is attributed to just about any author who's enjoyed a modicum of success these days.

But in the case of Audrey Niffenegger, it happens to be true. Her 2003 debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, has sold nearly five million copies worldwide and has been translated into 33 languages.

It was also voted 11th in one readers' poll of the top 50 books of all time and has been given the Hollywood treatment – a surefire sign that a book's hit the big time.

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The novel, a love story about a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably and the impact this has on his wife, made Niffenegger a literary sensation, and next month, the Michigan-born author is in Yorkshire for the Ilkley Literature Festival, where she will talk about her career.

"I know about the Bronts but I've never been to Yorkshire before so I'm looking forward to it," she says.

Although Niffenegger is best known as a novelist, she is also a successful artist whose paintings and drawings have been exhibited across the United States.

She has also produced several graphic novels, an art form which combines her twin creative passions. "It's a great form because you can show really surreal things and gestures that are difficult to capture just using words and you can create a lot of colour without the reader having to sit and think about it," she says.

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This fascination with words and pictures dates back to her youth. "I used to make my own illustrated books and I've been fascinated by the idea of using words and images together since my college days back in the 80s."

The success of The Time Traveler's Wife coincided with a growing interest in both historical novels and genre-crossing books, suggesting there has never been a better time to be a novelist, or indeed a reader.

"I would like to think that, but when you look back at past writers they have always been pushing back the boundaries. It's just these days there's perhaps less stigma about what a novel can or can't be, and that's a good thing."

However, when it comes to the growing popularity of e-books she is more reticent. "I know lots of people are wildly enthusiastic about them. But I have spent my life working with books as an art form and I am devoted to physical books. E-books in their current incarnations are still imperfect and they threaten the arts of book design and typography.

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"As a book conservator I am also nervous about the digitisation of books. Will they be readable one hundred years from now? Or will thousands of books simply vanish as platforms and programs change?"

Niffenegger followed up the monumental success of The Time Traveler's Wife with Her Fearful Symmetry, a modern ghost story set aroundLondon's Highgate Cemetery, which explores themes of love, loss and identity.

While researching the book she became such an expert on the cemetery that she ended up taking visitors on guided tours. "The first time I went there was in the mid-90s and I found it a fascinating place.

"I always enjoy visiting cemeteries and when the idea for Her Fearful Symmetry was evolving it seemed like the ideal setting. I kept asking questions and slowly acquired a lot of knowledge and ended up doing some tours, which was good fun."

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Her Fearful Symmetry is different in both style and subject matter from her debut novel, something Niffenegger says she set out to achieve.

"I think some people found my second novel more stringent compared to the first and it wasn't what some readers wanted, but I felt the story wanted to be that way. I don't have much time for people who keep repeating the same ideas; for me, the challenge is actually to come up with something different."

Audrey Niffenegger is appearing at Ilkley Playhouse at 3.30pm on Saturday, October 16, as part of the Ilkley Literature Festival. For ticket information, contact the box office on 01943 816714, or visit www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk