Literary Calendar
Events for September 19, 2013 through September 30, 2013
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Giles Milton in conversation with Roland Chambers, Daunt Bookshop Marylebone
Giles Milton has followed his best-sellers Paradise Lost and Nathaniel’s Nutmeg with Russian Roulette. His storytelling is as fine as ever in this tale of a Soviet plot to destroy British rule in India. It is also the story of the British spies who were sent to thwart it, a small band of men who had been smuggled into Russia in the aftermath of the 1917 revolution and were led by Mansfield Cumming, a monocled, one-legged sea captain with a&hellip
Concerning Frank Kermode, LRB
Frank Kermode was the great humanist critic of his generation. The LRB and the Department of English at UCL have together instituted an annual event to commemorate Kermode’s distinguished life and highly influential work. This year’s inaugural discussion, in which Jacqueline Rose and Michael Wood among others will participate, and which will be chaired by John Mullan, will range freely and informally across his contributions to criticism in numerous fields, from apocalyptic theory to contemporary fiction. More information/book tickets
Peter Bradshaw discusses Night of Triumph, Brick Lane
Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw will be reading from, talking about and signing his novel ‘Night of Triumph’. On VE night, 1945, the then teenage princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret, were allowed to leave the palace incognito and join the parties and festivities with their subjects – pretending to be ordinary people for the first and only time in their lives. More information/book tickets
Open House London, The London Library
The London Library is delighted to announce it will once again be taking part in Open House London – the capital’s greatest architectural showcase taking place on 21 & 22 September 2013. Open House London celebrates all that is best about the capital’s buildings, places and neighbourhoods. Every September, it gives a unique opportunity to get out and under the skin of London’s amazing architecture, with over 700 buildings of all kinds opening their doors to everyone – all for&hellip
The Southbank book club discuss The Turn of the Screw
Our book club explores The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Throughout 2013 we read books to tie in with Southbank Centre’s year-long festival on 20th-century culture and music, The Rest Is Noise. Please read the book in advance of the event and bring a copy with you on the evening. September marks Benjamin Britten’s centenary, making it the perfect time to consider the strange and sinister novella on which one of Britten’s most celebrated operas was based. Henry James’s imagination weaves&hellip
Max Hastings on Catastrophe: Europe goes to War 1914, Daunt Bookshop, Marylebone
Max Hastings, amongst the finest military historians of the Second World War, turns his formidable skills to the Great War. Catastrophe looks at both the roots of the conflict and its early years and argues against the ‘poets’ view’ that it was not worth winning. He offers a striking and broad account of seven nations at war drawing on the experiences of generals, private soldiers, housewives and statesmen. Talks take place at Daunt Books, Marylebone High Street Tickets are £8&hellip
The Betrayal of Oscar Wilde: Rupert Everett, Merlin Holland and Sir David Hare, Soho Literary Festival
Sir David Hare, who wrote The Judas Kiss, and Rupert Everett, the play’s star,are delighted to be opening the festival with a discussion with Merlin Holland. Merlin is Oscar Wilde’s only grandchild and the co-curator of the Wilde exhibition at the British library. His father, Vyvyan Holland, wrote a memoir,The Son of Oscar Wilde. More information/book tickets
Simon Schama discusses The Story of the Jews and the History of the World, Southbank
Simon Schama discusses his epic project of the past five years, the writing of a new Jewish history. The most personal of all his historical projects, taking him from forts on the Nile to the Lithuanian woods, it has led him not only to formidable challenges but to unexpected illuminations and the strong sense that the story, intense with joyous creativity as well as burdened with tragedy, belongs not just to Jews but to everyone. More information/book tickets
Virginia Ironside: Growing Old Disgracefully, Soho Literary Festival
When an agony aunt reaches her sixties, she can lie like a trouper, jump off a bridge – or take to the stage. Virginia Ironside is a well-known British journalist and author. Her career began in the 1960s when she wrote a rock column for the Daily Mail. Today she writes the Dilemmas column for the Independent and a monthly column for The Oldie, and has recently published No! I Don’t Need Reading Glasses! In Growing Old Disgracefully Virginia explains that unlimited free drugs, fun funerals, grandchildren and sex (or, even better,&hellip
Claire Tomalin on Charles Dickens, Soho Literary Festival
We are delighted to welcome Claire Tomalin to the Soho Literary Festival. She is one of our most prominent literary biographers, whose subjects have included Thomas Hardy, Samuel Pepys, Katherine Mansfield, Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft. She will be talking about her acclaimed work, Charles Dickens: A Life. More information/book tickets
The Animals: Love Letters between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, Soho Literary Festival
In 1952, Christopher Isherwood (Goodbye to Berlin) met the teenage Don Bachardy on Santa Monica beach. Defying convention, the two men began living together as an openly gay couple in an otherwise closeted Hollywood. Their relationship lasted until Isherwood’s death in 1986. In romantic letters to one another, the couple created the private world of the Animals. Christopher was ‘Dobbin’, a stubborn old workhorse; Don was the playful young white cat, ‘Kitty’. But Don needed to carve out his own identity – some of their&hellip
Craig Brown & Friends, Soho Literary Festival
Last year’s show, Comedy and Parody with Craig Brown & Friends, was a sell-out – so Craig and his friends are back this year by popular demand, with their own One-Stop Literary Festival, including the prose and poetry of such distinguished authors as Paolo Coelho, Vivienne Westwood, Pippa Middleton and Ed Miliband. His ‘& Friends’ and partners in satirical crime this year include the journalist and author of The Potter’s Hand A N Wilson, and author and Oldietheatre critic Paul Bailey. More information/book tickets
We Need To Talk About Lionel: Rosie Boycott talks to Lionel Shriver, Soho Literary Festival
Rosie Boycott, former editor of the Independent and the Daily Express, will interview Lionel Shriver, the award-winning author of the hugely successful and controversial We Need to Talk About Kevin (which was later adapted for the big screen). Shriver’s most recent book is Big Brother, a novel that delves into the topical issue of obesity and extreme diets. More information/book tickets
Much More than Misery Memoir: Sam Leith talks to Phyllida Law, Damian Barr and Rupert Christiansen, Soho Literary Festival
‘I know you’re going to be happy’ were the parting words of Rupert Christiansen’s father. But unlike the recent spate of misery memoirists, none of our panel is filled with self-pity. In these three fine memoirs, humour and poignancy vie for pole position. Phyllida Law – author of How Many Camels Are There In Holland? Dementia, Ma and Me, her hilarious tale of looking after her mother in the tiny Scottish village of Ardentinny – and Damian Barr – author of Maggie and Me, his memoir of surviving small-town Scotland in the shadow of the Iron Lady – will join Rupert Christiansen and Sam&hellip
Dreaming of Daphne du Maurier with Jane Dunn and Hilary Macaskill, Soho Literary Festival
Daphne du Maurier is one of the icons of 20th-century literature. Hugely successful as a writer, her short story The Birds and novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn were also effortlessly transferred to the screen. Daphne was the daughter of the Edwardian actor-manager, Gerald du Maurier, whose funeral she refused to attend, the wife of ‘Boy’ Browning, the Arnhem hero who warned they were going ‘a bridge too far’, and the lover of Gertrude Lawrence. Hilary Macaskill, author of Daphne du&hellip
The Grammar Bee with Mr Gwynne, Harry Mount and Toby Young, Soho Literary Festival
Gwynne’s Grammar has sat at the top of the bestseller lists for most of the year. Why? Because most of us have the nagging doubt that our English ain’t what it might be. Harry Mount (Amo, Amas, Amat) is a fellow stickler for good grammar, not because he’s pedantic but because he believes good English helps people in all aspects of their lives, especially their careers. Toby Young (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People) has made grammar the backbone of his new West London&hellip
Life and Death in Victorian England with Judith Flanders, Kate Colquhoun and Claire Armitstead, Soho Literary Festival
Claire Armitstead, the literary editor of the Guardian, will talk to Judith Flanders and Kate Colquhoun about survival in the 19th century, when you might well fall victim to murder, assault, poor medicine or an epidemic – in a time when sex was taboo and death was revered. More information/book tickets
WAGs of the Third Reich (with Anne Sebba, Jane Thynne, Rachel Johnson and Meike Ziervogel), Soho Literary Festival
Whole libraries of books have been written about the male members of Hitler’s evil court, but far less is known about their wives and girlfriends. How were these women able to live with some of the greatest monsters in history? Anne Sebba, the biographer of Wallis Simpson and Mother Teresa, will be chairing a discussion with three women who have made the subject their own: Jane Thynne, author of Black Roses, the story of Clara Vine, an ambitious actress who finds herself among the&hellip
The Classics Quiz: pueri versus puellae, Soho Literary festival
Following the success of last year’s contest, which was won by the puellae,Professor William Fitzgerald, author of How to Read a Latin Poem, will be this year’s interrogator (quizmaster to barbarians). Harry Mount (Amo, Amas, Amat) is looking for three optimi for his team; Rachel Johnson is looking for three optimae for her team. So, if you know about the locative and how Caesar conquered Gaul, this is your chance. Members of the audience can also take part, and the puer or puella with the highest score will be give a year’s free membership of the&hellip
Lincoln Book Festival: James Fergusson on The Most Dangerous Place on Earth
James Fergusson THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH: inside the outlaw state of Somalia Award winning author and journalist James Fergusson has met everyone in Somalia from politicians, pirates, extremists and mercenaries to aid workers, civilians and refugees. He gives a unique account of a country ravaged by war, considers what the future might hold for a generation who’ve grown up knowing little else and exposes the reality of life in this hard, often forgotten land. http://www.jamesfergusson.info More information/book tickets