Word that Johnny Depp had signed to play Sebastian Dangerfield in a film version of J. P. Donleavy’s ribald classic THE GINGER MAN fueled an explosion of interest in that novel on the Zone. ONBC has chosen THE GINGER MAN as its latest novel–their discussion began on April 3rd and continues to the end of the month. Zone member suec had the chance to hear author Donleavy speak at a fiction festival at King’s Lynn in the UK, and she has published a lively account of Donleavy’s talk and her own brief tete-a-tete with the celebrated writer. Yes, suec was brave enough to approach Mr. Donleavy and ask a few questions; well done, suec! Here’s a brief excerpt from suec’s post:

“[A]fter the queue had gone, I approached him. He told me that he had allowed the film [of THE GINGER MAN] to be made because ‘Mr Depp came along. He is a brilliant man’ and that he wouldn’t allow it to be made before because of the need to retain control over it. He said he didn’t have much to do with American writers and was only aware that Hunter S. Thompson had liked his book because he had read about it in a review. He added, ‘You know Mr Depp was staying with him? He read my book while he was staying there.’ [. . .] Then he started asking me questions. Where was I from? What did I do for a living? What had brought me there? When I replied, ‘You,’ he looked very disconcerted and said, ‘Oh dear. That is a terrible responsibility.’

You can read suec’s entire delightful tale–and see her pictures–on the ONBC forum, in the thread “suec Reports! An Evening with Donleavy!” To see a larger view of the thumbnail of Mr. Donleavy, click HERE. Thanks very much to suec for sharing her adventure.