How authors prepare for a festival interview

Experienced participants prepare three things: a short answer to 'what is the book about', a passage they can read comfortably in four minutes, and two or three subjects they genuinely want to discuss.

What they stop doing is scripting. Rehearsed answers sound rehearsed, and the conversations that readers remember are the ones where the author is thinking in real time.

Practical preparation matters more than most authors expect: a quiet room, a window that is not behind you, headphones, and a glass of water just off camera.

The last piece of advice from nearly everyone is to end on the book. Whatever the conversation covers, the closing minute should leave a listener knowing exactly what to go and read.