00:00 Yeah.
00:00 - Good afternoon.
00:03 My name is Phil here,
00:03 group arts editor at Sussex Newspapers
00:05 and also chairman of the Festival of Chichester.
00:07 I'm fabulous to speak to the president
00:09 of the Festival of Chichester, Kate Moss.
00:11 Kate, lovely that you are launching the paperback
00:15 of "The Ghost Ship" at this year's Festival of Chichester,
00:18 just as you launched the hardback of "The Ghost Ship"
00:20 at last year's Festival of Chichester.
00:22 And it sounds like life since the publication
00:25 has been fabulous.
00:26 It's a bit of a book that people have really,
00:28 really taken to, haven't they?
00:30 - They have loved "The Ghost Ship."
00:33 Yep, readers have taken my pirate queens to their hearts.
00:38 It was wonderful.
00:39 I always launch everything that I do in Chichester,
00:42 as you know, and then I go on a big tour,
00:44 this time with the paperback,
00:46 which comes out on the 20th of June.
00:48 And I'm doing an event at Waterstones
00:49 on the 19th in Chichester.
00:52 It's the only event I'm actually doing
00:53 because it's very important to me
00:55 that every book I do, if you'll forgive me,
00:57 sets sail from my hometown.
00:59 - Absolutely.
01:00 - "The Ghost Ship," yeah, "The Ghost Ship"
01:01 is a pirate story.
01:02 It's a love story.
01:03 It's a story of revenge and rebellion on the high seas.
01:06 It's set between Amsterdam, La Rochelle,
01:09 the Canary Islands, and finally South Africa
01:12 in the 17th century.
01:14 And it's a really good old-fashioned
01:16 seafaring adventure stories with lots of battles,
01:19 lots of intrigue.
01:20 But it's also about the story of women
01:22 living disguised lives in a hostile world
01:26 and women of great courage.
01:28 And when I've been out and about
01:29 with "The Ghost Ship" last year,
01:30 when it came out in hardback,
01:31 people have just loved the book
01:33 and I've had the most wonderful responses.
01:35 So I'm very much looking forward to the paperback
01:38 because of course it's more affordable.
01:40 It's gonna go right out there.
01:41 It publishes at a busy time of the year.
01:43 So anybody who fancies "The Ghost Ship,"
01:46 buy it on day one because that will make all the difference
01:50 to my pirate queens getting it to the top of the chart.
01:52 But no, seriously, it's been a joy
01:55 talking about "The Ghost Ship"
01:56 and I've been so happy after all these years.
01:59 It's no less exciting when a new book comes out
02:02 and people come up to you and go,
02:03 "I love this book," and they tell you why they do.
02:05 - Part of the fun and part of the challenge
02:07 has been the fact that the sea is not your natural domain,
02:11 either as a writer or as in real life, is it?
02:13 - People assume because I'm a Sussex girl born and bred
02:16 that I will be someone who sails or swims or whatever.
02:20 The truth is I love walking beside the sea.
02:23 I love hearing the sea and smelling the sea.
02:25 But I do not want to be on the sea
02:27 and I do not want to be in the sea.
02:30 But I did a huge amount of research
02:32 and I was enormously helped by a brilliant
02:35 retired naval commander and many other people
02:37 who have great experience because my real goal
02:40 was to do the sea justice.
02:41 For people who love the sea,
02:42 I wanted them to read "The Ghost Ship"
02:44 and feel that they were there
02:46 and to really feel that they knew what it would be like
02:49 to feel the wind in their hair
02:51 and hear the singing in the shrouds
02:53 and the sound of the waves against the hull of the ship.
02:56 So I did a huge amount of research
02:58 and that's been one of the most joyous things,
02:59 people saying, "Oh, Kate, I didn't know you sailed."
03:02 And me going, "Well, I didn't actually."
03:04 But it's all research.
03:05 But then, you know, I've written about human taxidermy
03:08 and I've written about medieval warfare
03:10 and I've written about being in the resistance
03:11 and I've not done any of those things either.
03:14 So it's just a different form of research
03:16 but I'm really pleased that I managed to pull it off.
03:18 - Fantastic and lovely that you're launching
03:20 a paperback in Chichester.
03:22 And yeah, I'm glad that you're launching it
03:23 as part of the Festival of Chichester.
03:25 - Of course, always. - Great, lovely.
03:28 Thank you so much. - Thank you.
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