Meet Julia Donaldson Summer reading Books of my life - RNIB

Author profile
Author profile:
Anne Zouroudi
Robert Kirkwood
from Insight
radio talked to
Anne Zouroudi
about her crime
series The Greek
Detective and
why she decided to give her books to
RNIB’s Talking Book Service.
Describe your series for us.
It’s a series of seven books set in modern
Greece on fictional Greek islands and
features a detective called Hermes
Diaktoros. I’m just finishing the seventh
book which will be out In 2014.
Your detective has been described
as part Poirot and part Precious
Ramotswe with “a rotundity all of his
own”. Would you agree?
Yes, he has been compared to Hercule
Poirot, and the books do have an Agatha
Christie feel to them – gentle but with a
dark edge. They are similar in that Poirot
and Hermes are both snappy dressers
but they operate in very different ways;
Poirot solves mysteries with his “little
grey cells” whereas Hermes relies on his
heart to dispense his kind of justice.
We have all six of your published
titles in RNIB’s talking book library. I
believe that is down to you?
I’m a strong supporter of RNIB. I do
have some family experience of sight
problems. My grandmother went blind
and she relied on talking books. It’s a
great honour for me to be in a position to
give my books to RNIB.
You’ve already written about two
blind characters. How did that come
about?
I only realised that after a library event in
Sheffield so it was done subconsciously.
In The whispers of Nemesis there is a
character called Dennis who is blind and
then, in The Doctor of Thessaly, the
eponymous doctor is blinded by having
chemicals thrown in his face.
You did an event in Birmingham where
you read in the dark, what was that
like?
It was a very enjoyable event. I was a
little bit nervous about it. I was given a
little reading light to put on my head and
the audience was effectively plunged into
darkness while I read to them from The
bull of Mithros. I think the audience
found it a really interesting experience –
it gave them an experience of immersing
yourself in the reading without looking
at, or turning a page and they felt that
they concentrated more. It had a slightly
creepy feeling, a bit like reading in
candlelight.
You’ve participated in several blind
and partially sighted reading groups.
How did you find them?
Just the same as any other reading group
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