On Wednesday 10th October Brian Selznick's new book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which has already been published to great acclaim in the USA, was launched in the UK  at Waterstones in Piccadilly. This report has been written by ALEC GAMBLE who is currently undertaking Project Trident work experience with Write Away:

We arrived at Waterstones, Piccadilly to find, on the ground floor, an exhibition of automatons giving a nice welcome to the event. Surrounding the machines were pictures of Brian's artwork  with accompanying  photos showing  his working process, including the use of photographic models. We then climbed five floors to a busy reception in the stylish wine bar where the atmosphere seemed to generate a magnetic field drawing me into the event. The floor was buzzing with the chatter of many people.

Following a speech from the publisher, Brian talked about the films of Georges Méliès which were the initial inspiration for the book. Méliès was a passionate collector of automata which were donated to a museum on his death but sadly destroyed. Brian also talked about a 300 year old automata he’d found in the attic of a museum. He explained how nobody would go near it for fear of breaking it. However, with the intervention of a friend, a specialist in mechanical devices, the automaton was reparied. The history of this mechanical figure  and its repair was truly amazing. We were then invited  to view a video of the working automaton (depicted in the book). Clockwork gears whizzed round inside, making the shoulders, arms, wrist and head move. The deceptively simple looking combination of cogs and gears can apparently write three poems in two languages and draw two pictures.When it has finished writing the automaton looks up, opens its eyes and stares directly at the watcher. Very disconcerting.  It is easy to understand from watching this video why Hugo Cabret is based largely around this amazing creation.

For more information about Brian Selznick visit his website www.theinventionofhugocabret.com  from which you can find many links about topics such as automata and Georges Méliès.

Our interview with Brian will be uploaded soon.