Tiffany Murray
Tiffany Murray (Wales, 1970) is the author of Happy Accidents (2005) and Diamond Star Halo (2009). She also teaches creative writing at several universities (Manchester, Arvon, Bath, Wales). Both novels portray family lives, unusual environments, and the imagination of children, in a prose style that is as lyrical as it is witty.
Diamond Star Halo - a rock ‘n roll fairytale set on a rural Welsh farm, where music and magic lurk in every corner - was translated in Dutch as Bidden voor Bowie (Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 2010) and in German as Lieber Gott und Otis Redding (Heyne, 2010). Booktunes interviewed Murray during the promotion of these translations. In this interview she talks about the many different roles that music plays in Diamond Star Halo, about the links between music and writing, and about the importance of music in her life. But she mentions many other things, too: myth and fantasy, spirit religions, Welsh mud and horses, imaginary brothers, and the afterlife of her invented rock star, Fred Connor.
Booktunes published a playlist of the tunes Tiffany Murray enjoyed while writing Diamond Star Halo. Visit iTunes and listen to the Booktunes 12 Writer's Notes.
text by Laura Schuster / drawing by Ytje