Literary Calendar
Events for April 3, 2014 through May 7, 2014
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Eleanor Catton in conversation with Robert Macfarlane, RSL
A special collaboration with the Royal Society of Literature and Intelligent Life magazine sees the return of Eleanor Catton to London for an exclusive event in which Robert Macfarlane, bestselling travel writer and Chair of the Man Booker Prize judges, will interview Catton for the first time. Read all reviews for The Luminaries Last October, Catton, a 28-year-old New Zealander, became the youngest ever winner of the Man Booker Prize. Her epic 832-page murder-mystery The Luminaries (Granta Books), is set&hellip
Tim Parks on Teach Us to Sit Still, Kings Place
‘Just when the medical profession had given up on me and I on it, just when I seemed to be walled up in a life sentence of chronic pain, someone proposed a bizarre way out: sit still, they said, and breathe. I sat still. I breathed. It seemed a tedious exercise at first, rather painful, not immediately effective. Eventually it proved so exciting, so transforming, physically and mentally, that I began to think my illness had been a stroke of&hellip
Donna Leon talks to Judith Flanders, Daunt’s Marylebone
A great crime writer on her latest superb Brunetti mystery. Judith Flanders is best known for her wonderful Victorian history books, Victorian London and The Invention of Murder, will be in conversation with Donna Leon. Judith’s new crime novel, Writer’s Block, has just been published. More information
Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism: David Harvey and Owen Jones, LRB
In his new book, Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (Profile), David Harvey unravels the paradoxes at the heart of capitalism – its drive, for example, to accumulate capital beyond the means of investing it; its imperative to use labour-saving technologies that leave consumers bereft of adequate means of consumption; and its compulsion to exploit nature to the point of extinction. Such are the tensions that underpin the persistence of mass unemployment, the downward spirals of Europe and Japan, and China’s and India’s&hellip
The importance of science: Bill Bryson at the Royal Society
He has been given the President’s Award by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Bradford Washburn Award by the Museum of Science in Boston and has been made an honorary Fellow of the Kavli Institute of Particle Physics, the British Science Association and the Royal Society. Yet renowned author Bill Bryson claims to have been a terrible student of science in school. Join Bill as he speaks to Professor Jim Al-Khalili about his personal experiences and perspectives on science, from&hellip
Alan Johnson on This Boy, Daunt’s Marylebone
The former Home Secretary on his beautifully written memoir of a troubled but ultimately triumphant childhood in the 50′s and 60′s.  
Lara Feigel in conversation with Selina Hastings on The Love-Charm of Bombs, Daunt’s Marylebone
The bombs of the Second World War wrought terrible destruction on London, but they were also a ‘love-charm’ for the city’s inhabitants. Freed from the responsibilities of normal life, many Londoners succumbed to the thrill of wartime passion. In her extraordinary work – part history, part biography and part literary criticism – Lara Feigel describes the Second World War as experienced by five of the best writers of the day: Elizabeth Bowen, Graham Greene, Rose Macaulay, Hilde Spiel and Henry&hellip
Danny Dorling with Ed Howker, Southbank Centre
Why are the British so obsessed with house prices? Housing was at the heart of the financial collapse, and our economy is now precariously reliant on the housing market. What does it mean for our future? Tracing how we got to our current crisis and how housing has come to reflect class and wealth in Britain, Danny Dorling’s new book All That Is Solid radically shows that the solution to our problems – rising homelessness, a generation priced out of home ownership&hellip
Canongate’s Letters Live, Southbank Centre
Letters Live celebrates the enduring power of literary correspondence. Inspired by To the Letter by Simon Garfield and Letters of Note by Shaun Usher, Letters Live celebrates letters. All reviews for To the Letter by Simon Garfield All reviews for Letters of Note by Shaun Usher From Virginia Woolf’s heart-breaking suicide letter to the recipe for drop scones sent by Queen Elizabeth II to President Eisenhower; from the first recorded use of the expression ‘OMG’ in a letter to Winston Churchill, to Gandhi’s appeal to Hitler for calm; and from&hellip
Sarah Hall, A.L. Kennedy, Helen Simpson, Southbank Centre
Three of our greatest short story writers read a story that questions what it means to be human. Following on from our discussion on the art of curiosity, three leading authors read a story that questions what it means to be human; to live, to love, to fall ill, to suffer a head injury, and even to change species altogether. Helen Simpson reads The Scan, AL Kennedy reads Knocked, and Sarah Hall reads her winning entry from the BBC’s Short Story competition: Mrs&hellip
5×15, Wilton’s Music Hall
Wellcome Prize nominees, Sarah Wise, Elizabeth Gilbert and Emily Mayhew at Wilton’s Music Hall. All reviews More information
Auden And Us with Alexander McCall Smith and Edward Mendelson, Courtauld
W.H. Auden once called poetry “a way of happening”, and in his own work the way was a marvellous one, striking a deep, popular chord. His “Funeral Blues” provides the only moment of gravity in Four Weddings and a Funeral; “September 1, 1939” was faxed around New York in the aftermath of 9/11. For Alexander McCall Smith, creator of the bestselling No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, Auden has for many years acted as a kind of invisible moral tutor, informing his responses&hellip
5×15, The Tabernacle
Charmian Gooch, Akhil Sharma, Miranda Carter, Henry Marsh, Ian McEwan at 5×15 More information
Philip Hensher on The Emperor Waltz, Southbank Centre
Philip Hensher reads from his new novel The Emperor Waltz. The Emperor Waltz is described by the author as ‘a big, camp epic about books, AIDS, boyfriends, money, political protest and the importance of not having your bathroom suite in avocado.’ Hensher is joined by Rebecca Chance, LaJohn Joseph, Kiki Archer and Sophie Ward. Paul Burston’s celebrated Polari salon provides a platform for new and emerging LGBT literary talent and showcases the very best in queer writing More information  
Akhil Sharma with David Sedaris
Akhil Sharma was born in Delhi in 1971 and moved to the US at the age of eight. His first novel An Obedient Father (2001) won him a PEN/Hemingway prize, a Whiting Award, and praise from the likes of Jonathan Franzen and Joyce Carol Oates. Now, more than a decade later, Akhil will be at the shop to read from and talk about his second novel Family Life (Faber). Lorin Stein wrote of it in the Paris Review: ‘With acid, deceptively artless prose and a faultless&hellip
Deyan Sudjic on B is for Bauhaus, Daunt’s Marylebone
Director of the Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic, will be in conversation with Stephen Bayley, author and design critic, as they consider the modern world through the lens of design. All reviews for B is for Bauhaus. More information
The Royal Society and science fiction
Farah Mendlesohn is head of department for English, Communication, Film and Media at Anglia Ruskin University. The lone (mad) scientist is a common trope in science fiction, but hidden away is a fascination with secret and semi-secret societies who work for the future of all mankind. This talk will look at the representation of the Royal Society in science fiction and fantasy as fact, fantasy and metaphor. More information here
Irvine Welsh with Alex Clark, Southbank Centre
The launch of Irvine Welsh’s new novel. Featuring murder, depravity and revenge – and enormous amounts of food and sex - The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins taps into two great obsessions of our time – how we look and where we live – and tells a story so subversive and dark it blacks out the Florida sun. Irvine Welsh is in conversation with Alex Clark. More information
Louise Doughty on okapis, London Zoo
ZSL conservation scientists and keepers team up with leading writers to talk about the animals in ZSL London Zoo. Alongside the animals, the writers speak imaginatively about their responses to them and ZSL’s experts talk about their ecology and conservation. The audience will be able to ask questions of author, scientist and keeper and have books signed over a glass of wine. These unique evenings will be held within the animal houses of ZSL London Zoo. Louise Doughty Louise Doughty&hellip