Rob Wilkins on Terry Pratchett's The Discworld Bestiary

Rob Wilkins is coming to The Bookshop on Thursday 15 October, for a talk about Terry Pratchett's The Discworld Bestiary. It's a night for anyone who knows the Discworld, and for those who've only ever heard the name.

To get the scale of it, you have to start with the books. Terry Pratchett built the Discworld over 41 novels, starting with The Colour of Magic in 1983. It's a world that sold more than 100 million copies and earned him a knighthood in 2009; the series was also adapted into a television show by the BBC. The Discworld Bestiary is a fully illustrated guide to the creatures that populate that world, with new artwork by Paul Kidby, Pratchett's longtime artistic collaborator. That's the hook for the evening: a look at the creatures that make the series what it is, and the man who spent decades working alongside the author.

Rob Wilkins isn't just a fan or a biographer. He worked with Pratchett for more than twenty years, first as his personal assistant and later as his business manager. These days he runs the Pratchett literary estate and Narrativia, his own production company. He's one of the few people who saw the Discworld grow from the inside, so when he talks about it, he's speaking from a place of genuine, long-term proximity to the work.

The talk is hosted at Topping & Company, billed as the largest independent bookshop in the country, which opened opposite York Minster. It runs from 7pm to 8pm on Thursday 15 October, so it's a mid-week evening in the city centre.