The bestselling American novelist shares the journey behind her Hollywood-adapted thriller, The Marsh King’s Daughter, and encourages aspiring writers at the 45th Sharjah International Book Fair to persevere
SHARJAH, UAE- “Don’t quit and don’t be afraid to try something new: Stretch. Reach. Grow!” This was American novelist Karen Dionne’s advice to schoolgirls attending her talk “The book that changed everything” at the 45th Sharjah International Book Fair. The author was discussing the successful adaptation of her fourth published novel The Marsh King’s Daughter into a Hollywood movie in the summer of 2023.
“Time is on your side, you’ve got lots of time to get good at writing,” she told the schoolchildren as she opened up about her writing journey and subsequent fame. She had rediscovered her own passion for the craft and began writing seriously only after encouraging her son to enter writing contests. The psychological thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter was structured around Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale by the same name, and she had woken up one night from her sleep with the opening sentences already formed in her mind, she said.
Dionne noted that she was particularly interested in “exploring how a child who grows up in abnormal circumstances might gradually realise the truth about her family and identity”. She also experimented with giving the plot two climaxes – when the protagonist Helena discovers that her father is a bad man who had kidnapped and illtreated her mother, and secondly, when he hunts Helena down after he is released from prison.
“I knew the book could be something special because it dwelt on the conflict between good and evil,” she said as she shared the excitement she had felt when it was sold in a 12-way auction, its subsequent translations into 28 languages, and above all when the production company Anonymous Content acquired film rights and roped in Neil Burger as director and Daisy Ridley as the heroine.
Although her story was set in the upper peninsula of Michigan based on Dionne’s own experience of living in the wilderness, the film was shot in a remote forest area in Canada with the French River flowing through it. She remembered that Covid-related quarantine restrictions had prevented her from visiting the shooting location while an actors’ strike spoiled the opportunity to meet the movie’s stars. Watching the finished film was an emotional experience, she told the girls, and she had watched it nine times during the week the studio made it available to her.
Asked what makes a great novel, Dionne told them that it is important to create compelling characters. “What happens to the characters is secondary,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to try something new,” she told the students, suggesting that they explore different genres to develop their creative expression.
Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority, the 45th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF 2026) runs from November 4 to 15 at Expo Centre Sharjah under the theme ‘Made of Stories’, with the Sultanate of Oman as Guest of Honour. The fair brings together 3,212 publishers and exhibitors from 126 countries, showcasing more than 1.7 million titles. Its programme features 1,500 cultural, creative and artistic events, with 106 guests from 25 countries.
