Literary Calendar
Events for November 27, 2013 through January 27, 2014
Events List Navigation
Amy Tan on The Valley of Amazement, Foyles
From the author of the Joy Luck Club comes a novel that spans decades and continents, following the lives of three generations of women and the mysterious painting that holds the key to their hidden histories. The story sweeps from San Francisco to Shanghai to New York, and connections are forged across the years — in spite of their three very different lives — as each strives to come to terms with the tumultuous journeys of her forbears. In this exclusive London&hellip
Artemis Cooper discusses Patrick Leigh Fermor, Kensington Library
Bestselling biographer Artemis Cooper talks about the life and times of the enigmatic writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. Artemis will also discuss The Broken Road, Fermor’s final book about his journey through Europe in 1933, and take questions on the art of researching and writing biography. More information/book tickets
Amy Tan at Kings Place
Join Amy Tan for a discussion of her hit debut novel, The Joy Luck Club. In 1949, four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, meet every week to play mahjong, eat dim sum and gossip about their children. Through their stories, and those of their four daughters, the novel explores the fault lines between two generations and two cultures. The book became an instant New York Times bestseller, was nominated for the National Book Award, and has since been adapted into a successful film,&hellip
Nadeem Aslam and Kamila Shamsie discuss the Pakistani novel, Courtauld
Pakistan produces people of extraordinary bravery,’ Nadeem Aslam has written, ‘but no nation should ever require its citizens to be that brave.’ His sentiment is shared by Kamila Shamsie, and the work of both novelists has focused on the human cost of conflict in their homeland. Nadeem Aslam was born in Pakistan, and experienced the devastation of General Zia’s martial rule before his family fled to Huddersfield when he was 14. He has traced the plight of his compatriots from&hellip
Literary Death Match at Kings Place
To ensure this will be a literary December to remember, Literary Death Matchreturns to Kings Place for an enchanting Christmas special rife with lit, wit, and smash literary and comedic hits. This is going to be one to remember — don’t miss it! The night will feature four writers reading their own wonderful tales for seven minutes or less, judged by three all-star judges. Two finalists will be chosen to compete in the Literary Death Match finale, a vaguely-literary game that will steal your&hellip
Edna O’Brien with Alex Clark at Kings Place
Edna O’Brien scandalised audiences with her 1960 novel Country Girls. Last year she published her memoirs to great acclaim. This time the winner of the prestigious Frank O’Connor Prize looks back on 50 years of writing short stories withThe Love Object, a collection of her best. Read all reviews for The Love Object. Edna O’Brien will be interviewed by critic and broadcaster Alex Clark. More information/book tickets
Sir Max Hastings on Catastrophe, LJCC
Sir Max Hastings renowned journalist, author and historian talks about his new book, Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914, a magisterial chronicle of the calamity that befell Europe in 1914 as the continent shifted from the glamour of the Edwardian era to the tragedy of total war. From the best-selling author of All Hell Let Loose comes a magisterial chronicle of the calamity that befell Europe in 1914 as the continent shifted from the glamour of the Edwardian era to the&hellip
Carlos Acosta at the Bloomsbury Institute
Join us for a special Book Club event with Carlos Acosta, author of Pig’s Foot, at the Bloomsbury Institute. International ballet dancer Carlos Acosta and his editor Bill Swainson discuss Pig’s Foot. Selected as one of The Waterstones Eleven for the best fiction debuts of 2013, Carlos Acosta’s Pig’s Foot is a dazzling novel of revolution, family secrets, love and identity across four generations. Full of dark comedy, magical history and startling revelations, Pig’s Foot is a dazzling evocation of Cuba’s tumultuous history. Oscar Kortico, great-grandchild of the founders of a&hellip
Philip Hoare on The Sea Inside at the Southbank
Philip Hoare heads the bill at the LGBT literary salon with his new book The Sea Inside. Plus Barbara Brownskirt, singer Marcus Reeves and other festive treats. Described by The New York Times as ‘London’s most theatrical salon’, Polari returns for the autumn, showcasing the best in established, new and up-and-coming LGBT literary talent and performance. More information/book tickets
Carlos Acosta on Pig’s Foot, Kings Place
The dazzling dancer Carlos Acosta has already entranced readers with his autobiography. He now comes to Kings Place to talk about his much awaited second book, Pig’s Foot, a sweeping literary novel full of dark comedy and magical history; a big tale of revolution, family secrets, love and identity set in the Cuban hinterland across three generations. More information/book tickets
Professor A. C. Grayling talks friendship, LJCC
To mark the publication of his new book, A. C. Grayling roves the rich traditions of friendship in literature, culture, art, and philosophy, bringing into his discussion familiar pairs as well as unfamiliar—Achilles and Patroclus, David and Jonathan, Coleridge and Wordsworth, Huck Finn and Jim. Grayling lays out major philosophical interpretations of friendship, then offers his own take, drawing on personal experiences and an acute awareness of vast cultural shifts that have occurred. More information/book tickets
2013 TS Eliot Prize readings at the Southbank
Hear readings from the poets shortlisted for the 2013 TS Eliot Prize, one of the most loved events of the literary calendar. Ian McMillan comperes the evening. Ian Duhig chairs the judging panel, accompanied by two other judges, poets Vicki Feaver and Imtiaz Dharker. Expect an electric atmosphere at this performance, which is a unique opportunity to hear the best contemporary poets reading their own work. The judges will meet in October to decide on the ten-book shortlist. The four&hellip
Jeanette Winterson and Stephen Grosz at Kings Place
Award-winning Jeanette Winterson, author of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, in conversation with Stephen Grosz, psychoanalyst and author of The Examined Life. Funny, acute, fierce and celebratory, Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal tells how the painful past she thought she had left behind returned to haunt her, and sent her on a journey into madness and out again in search of her real mother. Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years uncovering the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behaviour.&hellip
The White Review No. 9 with Matthew Gregory and Francesco Pacifico, Foyles
The White Review, an arts and literature quarterly, launches its ninth issue featuring new fiction, essays, reportage, poetry, artwork and interviews. Tonight’s guests include the winner of the Eric Gregory award 2010, poet Matthew Gregory and the author of The Story of My Purity, Italian novelist Francesco Pacifico. Book tickets/more information
Will Self on Guy Debord, LRB
Will Self will be at the shop to discuss the work of Guy Debord, and in particular The Society of the Spectacle, for the new Notting Hill edition of which he has written an introduction. ‘Never before’, he writes, ‘has Debord’s work seemed quite as relevant as it does now, in the permanent present that he so accurately foretold. Open it, read it, be amazed …’ Will Self will be in discussion with film-maker and author of The View from&hellip
Is the world of literature is becoming more, or less, closed? With Jonathan Dimbleby, Alan Johnson and Stephen Kelman
There is much talk about social mobility, but little evidence of it in Britain today. Private school students are fifty-five times more likely to win a place at Oxbridge than students at state schools who qualify for Free School Meals. Seven per cent of children attend private schools, but they account for 54% of FTSE 100 CEOs, and 70% of High Court judges and 61% of Booker Prize winning novelists. In an evening jointly hosted by the RSL and First Story, Jonathan&hellip
Rachel Cooke & Samantha Ellis discuss their heroines, Keats House
In Her Brilliant Career, award-winning journalist Rachel Cooke looks at ten astonishing women of the 1950s, whose pioneering professional lives paved the way for future generations. Among a host of stellar reviews, the Telegraph described it as ‘vastly entertaining, cannily researched and sharply perceptive.’ Wondering whether she’d rather be Cathy Earnshaw or Jane Eyre prompted Samantha Ellis to write How to be a Heroine. In her engaging memoir of reading, she reconsiders her fictional heroines, assessing everyone from the Little Mermaid to Lucy Honeychurch,&hellip
5×15: Matthew Green, Simon Munnery, Deborah Levy, Anna Whitelock, Steve Jones
Matthew Green, Simon Munnery, Deborah Levy, Anna Whitelock and Steve Jones at 5×15 at Tate Britain. More information/book tickets
Emily’s Walking Book Club, Daunts
Sunday, 26th of January at 11.30am at our shop on South End Road Join other book-lovers for a walk on Hampstead Heath to discuss a lost Russian masterpiece, The Spectre of Alexander Wolf. A man is haunted by the memory of a soldier he killed, until he reads a story that describes it in perfect detail. Obsessed with the quality of the writing as much as the possibility that the man he shot is alive, the narrator sets off in search of&hellip
Frank Furedi on the First World War, Foyles
Dr Frank Furedi is a social commentator and author and emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent in Canterbury. His latest book argues that the battle of ideas which crystallized during the course of the Great War continues to the present, and claims that the Culture Wars of today are the latest expressions of a century long conflict. So, is this a contemporary analysis; crass comparison or simply First World War anniversary porn? Book tickets/more information