Each year, Hay Festival Wales champions 10 remarkable debuts from first time authors as a part of our Debut Discoveries series. Our line-up for 2023 includes Mrs March by Virginia Feito. With a major film adaptation already underway, Virginia tells us more about her debut in this Q&A...
What compelled you to write your debut?
I’d always wanted to write a novel, and when they suggested promoting me at my advertising job, I realised I was never going to write that book unless I actually wrote that book. I quit my advertising job so I’d have no choice but to write it.
What does being featured in Hay Festival’s Debut Discoveries mean to you?
It’s such an honor, it’s ridiculous. For my debut to be one of the very few selected must mean I did something right. Unfortunately I have no clue what that is. I feel like I can only go downhill from here.
What are you looking forward to at the Festival?
This will be my first Hay Festival and honestly I’m thrilled to just be able to be there, soaking in the books and the general literary love I’ve been told abounds there. But also I WILL swoon if I spot Jacqueline Wilson.
What book(s) are you reading at the moment?
A galley of My Husband by Maud Ventura. Loving it so far.
What advice would you give to those writing their own debuts?
Don’t feel pressured to follow other people’s writing habits. Don’t feel pressured generally. Read a lot.
Book now to see Virginia Feito talk Mrs March with with Xiaolu Guo at Hay Festival 2023 now.