Pratchett is of course most well-known for his Discworld series of over 40 novels, but many people don't realize one of the original models for Discworld's chief city, Ankh-Morporkh, was Tallinn, no less.

This made it high time for Rob to visit and to take part in this year's HeadRead event and panel discussion.

The trip also coincided with "Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes" being translated into Estonian. The work is hard to categorize in that it began as an unfinished autobiography, becoming part-biography via the clever device of footnotes, hence the title. Wilkins is practically addicted to the feature, to the extent that Pratchett had a "footnote bell" which he would ring once per day to ensure no more than one footnote – he had a similar practice when it came to ellipses – was written per working day.

It's a decade since Terry passed but it is worthwhile remembering that at his peak he was the biggest-selling living author, but his popularity has not diminished since then.

Rob notes that The Colour of Magic (1983), which introduced the Discworld, still tops the list; 1990's Good Omens, which Pratchett co-wrote with Neil Gaiman, has been made into a hit TV series.

None of this meant that Terry was particularly materialistic; far from it, while his tendency to puncture pomposity via his characters continued, even after receiving a knighthood in 2009.

Wilkins' role was really part PA, part sub-editor, and he speaks frankly in the interview about this: Terry could be difficult and demanding in his needs, meaning Rob, who lived just round the corner from Terry in Wiltshire, did not always get to see his own family when he would have wanted.

Rob's day-to-day work often involved editing raw, often very raw, copy and even taking down dictations, as well as non-writing tasks such as helping with an automated greenhouse Terry had at home.

Ultimately, Pratchett liked meeting fans above all else, which makes all the more poignant his suffering from Alzheimer's in his final years, which Wilkins also addresses in the book and in the HeadRead panel.

In sum, Wilkins noted the world would be a better place if we all read even just one Pratchett offering (if we haven't read them all already, in which case perhaps a re-read is due).

With that in mind, Rob also provides some advice on the order of reading the Discworld series, in the discussion with ERR's Kaupo Meiel, which can be watched in its entirety by clicking the video player above.

Other videos with authors at the HeadRead Festival from 2025 and previous years can be found here.

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