WORLD:
What role did the 2020 pandemic play in your everyday life?
Jonathan Coe:
The last year started normally for me - I traveled a lot through Europe.
I have been to Munich twice to do research for my novel “Mr Wilder and Me”.
In France I visited bookshops and literary festivals and in mid-March I traveled to Vienna and then on to Germany to present “Middle England”.
During the book tour, the virus broke out and paralyzed Europe.
My readings in Vienna, Munich and Berlin took place on the last evening on which public events were still possible.
Covid-19 has literally followed me across Europe.
Since then I have only been abroad twice, in Switzerland, for two weeks in September.
That being said, I was stuck in the UK - and now we are literally trapped here!
WORLD:
Your novel “Mr Wilder and Me” was published in Great Britain in November.
Did you even get around to working on new texts this year?