An Evening with Jeffrey Archer

Jeffrey Archer and me

   Jeffrey Archer, the master storyteller, arrived in Kolkata on the 19^th of March, 2011 for an interactive session with the calcatians bookworms, on the occasion of the release of his latest masterpiece- Only Time Will Tell.

   Only few got the opportunity to meet this great storyteller in person and I would like to acknoledge our librarian, Ma’am Austin, for giving me the opportunity to be amongst the lucky few who got to meet the legendry author.

   The session was held in the auditorium at South City International School, where an audience of five hundred people and more had gathered to listen to the great author as he talked to us about the ideas that spurred his work and his latest novel.

    The most anticipated evening began with Lord Jeffrey Archer telling us how he had started writing. Much to our surprise, the master storyteller had not started his life as a writer but as a politician. There was a time in his life when he was going through a lot of struggle and was having a hard time, especially as he had a lot of debts to pay. That was when he decided, even though hard, he would try to write a book. He spent a lot of time working hard and wrote a book called ‘Kane and Abel’, but unfortunately the book was turned down by the first fourteen publishers he went to. Finally the fifteenth publisher he went to agreed to publish his book. “In America, if you want your book to be sold, it has to be in the top fifteen in the best sellers list.” the author explained to an eager crowd, “And I was somewhere down in the thirty’s. That was when my publishers persuaded me to feature in the American Breakfast show.” said the author, bringing the house down in hysterics in the next few minutes, telling us about his disastrous appearances on the show. Jeffrey Archer not only spoke to us but also answered some questions from his fans.

    I really enjoyed knowing such a great author and inspiring personality and was even lucky to get a book signed by Jeffrey Archer! I would like to thank my school for giving me such a wonderful opportunity and being so encouraging.

By

Shruti Chakraborty
La Martiniere for Girls