Literary Calendar
Events for October 22, 2013 through November 13, 2013
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The Hatchards Bloomsbury Book Club with Elizabeth Gilbert
Elizabeth Gilbert and her UK editor Alexandra Pringle discuss The Signature of All Things, an extraordinary new novel of botany, exploration and desire by the author of Eat, Pray, Love. It is 1800 and Alma Whittaker is born into a perfect Philadelphia winter. Her father, Henry Whittaker, is a bold and charismatic botanical explorer whose vast fortune belies his lowly beginnings as a vagrant in Kew Gardens. Alma’s mother, a strict woman from an esteemed Dutch family, is conversant in five living languages&hellip
David Runciman in conversation with John Lanchester, LRB
Regular LRB contributor and professor of politics at Cambridge David Runciman believes modern liberal democracies are remarkably good at recovering from crises, but remarkably bad at avoiding them. In his latest book The Confidence Trap (Princeton) he focuses on debt, climate change, the rise of China and the war on terror to argue that what we have learned from history, rather than wisdom, is a dangerous complacency. David Runciman will be in conversation with LRB contributing editor John Lanchester. More information/book tickets
Paul Morley talks about The North (And Almost Everything in It), Foyles
Paul Morley has always thought of himself as a northerner, without really knowing what it meant. In his recent book The North (And Almost Everything in It) he commences a journey of self- and regional discovery. From Wordsworth’s elegant verses to Larkin’s wry reflections, Morley shows that northern-ness goes far deeper than just an accent. Austin Williams puts the questions. More information/book tickets
Elizabeth Gilbert on The Signature of All Things, Southbank Centre
The bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love discusses her first novel for 12 years. The Signature of All Things is a big novel about a big century, soaring across the globe from London, to Peru, to Philadelphia, to Tahiti, to Amsterdam. At its centre is Alma Whittaker, a woman of the Enlightened Age who stands defiantly on the cusp of the modern. In association with Glamour Magazine’s G-Book Club, and introduced by Glamour editor, Jo Elvin, with the Q&A chaired by bestselling author&hellip
Ali Smith and Jonathan Coe invite you to join them in launching ‘Save the Story’, Daunt Bookshop, Marylebone
Jonathan Coe and Ali Smith will be here to talk about their wonderful retellings for children of the classic tales Antigone and Gulliver. Ali Smith was born in Inverness, where she was quite good at ice-skating and spent a lot of time on the back of a black Shetland pony called Hodrum. When she was about seven years old she began to write stories and poems. The first poem that she remembers writing was about a girl called Isabel debating&hellip
Jeremy Paxman in conversation with Prospect, Royal Geographic Society
Prospect editor Bronwen Maddox in conversation with one of Britain’s most renowned authors and broadcasters, Jeremy Paxman, to mark the launch of his new book and TV Series: Great Britain’s Great War: a sympathetic history of our gravest folly. More information/book tickets
Malcolm Gladwell – The David and Goliath Tour, Lyceum Theatre
Malcolm Gladwell – global phenomenon, icon of the unexpected, no.1 bestselling author of Blink, The Tipping Point and Outliers – will transform the way you think about power and advantage forever. If you thought small was weak – think again … More information/book tickets
The Omnivore Pageant Pin-up, The Other Club
The Omnivore knows good sex* *And isn’t afraid to ask… you to come to The Omnivore Pop-up Pin-up Party. Our world-famous Pin-ups (as seen in The Telegraph, New Yorker and Christian Science Monitor) will be sharing the literary passages that get them hot under the collar.From Jilly Cooper’s Riders to Norman Mailer’s American [Wet] Dream to Emily Dickinson’s racy graveyard antics, the evening promises a heady mix of a pleasure and perversion. Guests are encouraged to bring their favourite examples&hellip
Philip Kerr on Prayer, Keats House
Philip Kerr joins us to discuss his life in writing – in particular the latest in his highly acclaimed Bernie Gunther series, A Man Without Breath, and his new novel Prayer. Read all reviews for Prayer here. In his compelling supernatural thriller Prayer, Special Agent Gil Martins investigates a series of deaths, which seem to be linked to the power of prayer. It is a case which will test the limits of his new-found atheism, especially when he discovers that&hellip
Rosie Boycott at The Other Club
A bit of feminist history as Rosie Boycott, founder of the Seventies revolutionary feminist magazine Spare Rib, an early director of Virago, now chair of The London Food Board, comes to talk about battles won and lost along the way. More information/book tickets
Sir Alex Ferguson at the Southbank
Sir Alex Ferguson discusses the highlights of his extraordinary career with Eamonn Holmes. Please note, there is currently no availability for this event – returns only. Earlier this year, Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement as manager of Manchester United after 27 years in the role. He has gone out in a blaze of glory, with Manchester United winning the Premier League for the 13th time, and is widely considered to be the greatest manager in the history of British&hellip
Samuel Johnson Prize reading, Southbank Centre
On the eve of the announcement of the winner of this year’s prize, the shortlisted authors gather to discuss their books. The shortlisted books are Empires of the Dead by David Crane, Return of a King by William Dalrymple, A Sting In The Tale by Dave Goulson, Under Another Sky by Charlotte Higgins, The Pike by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Margaret Thatcher: The Authorised Biography by Charles Moore. Read the reviews for the shortlisted books here. Book ticket/more tickets
Calvino’s Letters with Michael Wood, Kings Place
The first English translation of Italo Calvino’s letters has appeared this year (Princeton University Press). Selected by Michael Wood and translated by Martin McLaughlin, the generous selection of around 650 letters offers many insights not just for those interested in Calvino the writer, but also for anyone interested in the most significant developments in Italian literature, culture and politics in the second half of the twentieth century. The reader will find fascinating letters to major Italian writers such as Leonardo Sciascia, Umberto Eco&hellip
Helen Fielding at Kings Place
Weight: nine stone (terrifying slide into obesity – why? why?); alcohol units: six (excellent); cigarettes: 23 (vg).’ It’s almost two decades since Helen Fielding introduced us to the chardonnay-swigging, chain-smoking 30-something singleton – Bridget Jones. Now, in Mad About the Boy, Bridget is back – a 51 year old mother of two, with a mobile phone and a twitter account. Oh, and she’s a widow. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to join Helen Fielding for a celebration of one of the best-loved heroines of&hellip
Iain Sinclair with Deborah Moggach, the Courtauld
In 1948, the novelist and poet Jack Kerouac coined the name ‘Beat Generation’ for an underground, anti-conformist youth movement in New York. In the decade that followed, works such as Kerouac’s On the Road, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and William S. Burroughs’s Naked Lunch (the last two sparkling obscenity trials that ultimately revolutionised American publishing) formed a distinct ‘Beat’ literature. Iain Sinclair has been described by the Daily Telegraph as ‘one of our most dazzling stylists’, and American Smoke, published this month, completes the trilogy he began with Hackney: That&hellip
Sir Ranulph Fiennes at Daunts
Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes will be here to talk about life in the extreme cold following a lifetime of adventures in the polar regions. As well as being scientifically rigorous, the book looks at the history of exploration from the early voyages of Cook to the expeditions of Shackleton and Amundsen as well as being a very personal testament to his own experiences in some of the coldest regions of the earth and his relationship to these extreme conditions. More&hellip
Jonathan Aitken with Robin Baird-Smith at the Royal Institution
Jonathan Aitken, a friend and confidant of Margaret Thatcher for forty years, discusses his new biography of the Iron Lady with his editor and publisher, Robin Baird-Smith, at the Royal Institution. Jonathan Aitken was a member of Thatcher’s Cabinet and for much of the time a family friend. His biography, Margaret Thatcher: Power and Personality, provides an eye witness account of both private and public episodes of her life and is based on extensive interviews and exhaustive research with those who knew her&hellip
Margaret Drabble at Kings Place
Dame Margaret Drabble will be interviewed by writer, academic and broadcaster Harriett Gilbert about her new novel, The Pure Gold Baby, a remarkable novel about our changing society and the way we care for one another. Read all reviews for The Pure Gold Baby. This is the story of one woman’s lifetime and the way her existence touch the lives and loves of those around her, a book of great beauty, wisdom and stealthy power. Book tickets/more information
Simon Sebag Montefiore on One Night in Winter, Daunt Bookshop, Marylebone
Acclaimed Russian historian Simon Sebag Montefiore will be speaking about writing fact and fiction when he comes to discuss his new novel which is based on a true story from Stalinist Russia. Two teenagers, children of high-ranking party members, are found dead on a bridge in Moscow. Stalin himself will conduct the investigation into their deaths… Talks take place at Daunt Books, Marylebone High Street Tickets are £8 (including wine). They may be purchased from our Marylebone High Street shop&hellip
Chuck Palahniuk at Foyles
This event comes with a warning: not suitable for the easily disturbed. From Fight Club andChoke author Chuck Palahniuk comes Doomed - a dark and twisted vision of the apocalyptic, a nightmarish meditation on eternal damnation, with plenty of jokes. Following on from her adventures in Chuck’s last novel Damned, Madison Spencer, the liveliest and snarkiest dead girl in the universe, is trapped in purgatory after a Hallowe’en ritual gone awry — and Satan’s out to get her… This exclusive London event is your chance to&hellip