Literary Calendar
Events for May 21, 2014 through June 10, 2014
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Tim Butcher on The Trigger, Waterstone’s Piccadilly
Tim Butcher will discuss The Trigger, the story of the teenage assassin who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and triggered the First World War. Tickets £5/£3 (Waterstones Cardholders available online via Waterstones.com/tickets or in store)
On Tove Jansson with Ali Smith and Thomas Teal, RSL
Best remembered and much loved for her Moomin characters, the Finnish writer Tove Jansson (1914-2001) is now also being celebrated for her novels and short stories for adults. But where do books for children end, and books for adults begin? Can an author’s writing invite the states of adulthood and childhood to merge and address each other? Jansson was inspired to create the Moomintroll after an argument about the philosopher Immanuel Kant; her luminous classic novel for adults,The Summer Book,&hellip
Charlotte Mendelson and Sathnam Sanghera, Keats House
Sixteen-year-old Marina flees the pressures of life with her Hungarian relatives, to find that a traditional English boarding school does not offer the sense of belonging she anticipated. Following the death of his father, Arjan discovers that a return to life among his Sikh family reveals truths about his life and background that he didn’t expect either. Almost English and Marriage Material are touching, witty novels about the need to understand our past, if we are to fully embrace our future. Charlotte Mendelson is&hellip
Andrew Motion hosts Poetry in the City
Poet in the City present an evening of poetry hosted by Andrew Motion. Celebrating 10 years of the Creative Writing School at Royal Holloway University, this special event will showcase some of the most exciting voices to emerge from Bedford Square in recent years. Andrew Motion will read alongside fellow poet Jo Shapcott, as they present readings from four acclaimed new poets; Karen McCarthy Woolf, Lydia McPherson, Declan Ryan and Will Searle. More information
Andres Neuman on Talking To Ourselves, Waterstone’s Piccadilly
The celebrated author and winner of the National Critics Prize will be discussing his newest title Talking to Ourselves. Event is free, but please reserve your place by contacting piccadilly@waterstones.com or the store on 0207 851
Karl Ove Knausgaard, Waterstone’s Piccadilly
The bestselling Norwegian author will be signing copies of the exhilarating and terrifying Boyhood Island the third book of the My Struggle cycle
Javier Cercas discusses The Outlaws with Paul Preston, LRB
Javier Cercas rose to fame in the English-speaking world with The Soldiers of Salamis which won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2004 and was one of our early bestsellers. He continued his exploration of modern Spanish history with The Anatomy of a Moment, a work of non-fiction that investigated the failed coup of 1981. Now he returns to fiction with The Outlaws, a fast-paced and morally complex tale of disaffected youth set in the period just after the end&hellip
Meet Seth Macfarlane, Piccadilly
Animator, writer, producer, director, actor, singer and creator of Family Guy & Ted will be signing copies of his debut novel A Million Ways to Die in the West. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment, access to the queue will be limited & is on a strictly first come first served basis. No posed photography. Seth MacFarlane will signed copies of ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ only
Michael Cunningham on The Snow Queen, Waterstones Hampstead
The Pulitzer-prise winning author of The Hours discusses his new novel The Snow Queen
Edmund White on Inside a Pearl, Southbank Centre
Master memoirist Edmund White reads his intriguing memoirs from his time spent in Paris. All reviews for Inside A Pearl: My Years in Paris by Edmund White Effortlessly mixing serious artistic and historical concerns with the soap opera of urban life, Edmund White is a master memoirist. InInside A Pearl, White turns his attention to the years spent in Paris, which were the sexiest and most exciting times in his life. With the extraordinary cast of characters including Yves St Laurent,&hellip
Siri Hustvedt talks to Alex Clark, Waterstone’s Piccadilly
The internationally acclaimed author of What I Loved will be discussing her new novel The Blazing World with journalist Alex Clark. Tickets £5/£3 Waterstones Cardholders available online via Waterstones.com/tickets or in store
Another Great Day at Sea, Geoff Dyer, Alain de Botton at 5×15, The Tabernacle
Alain de Botton talks to Geoff Dyer about Another Great Day at Sea. Visual Editions is delighted to announce Another Day at Sea by Geoff Dyer, the much-anticipated first title from Writers in Residence; a collectable set of books that bring together some of the greatest writers and photographers on the planet to reveal the normally faceless organizations that shape the modern world. Visual Editions is finding a third way between books and magazines with Writers in Residence. The arresting, full-colour photography,&hellip
Book Slam in May will be ineffably fun and cool. NED BEAUMAN, author of ‘Boxer, Beetle’ and ‘The Teleportation Accident’ and one of Granta’s latest batch of the Best of Young British Novelist’s introduces us to his new novel, ‘Glow’. He’s fun and cool. ELVIS MCGONAGALL is the smartest, sharpest and laugh-out-loud funniest poet either side of Hadrian’s Wall. He’s fun and cool too. And us? Definitely fun and cool. More information
Siri Hustvedt talks about The Blazing World with Sarah Thornton, LRB
In Siri Hustvedt’s latest novel The Blazing World, artist Harriet Burden, consumed by fury at the lack of recognition she has received from the New York art establishment, embarks on an experiment: she hides her identity behind three male fronts who exhibit her work as their own, to universal acclaim. ‘All intellectual endeavours’ Burden herself remarks pugnaciously at the novel’s opening ‘fare better in the mind of the crowd when the crowd knows that somewhere behind the great work … it&hellip
Philipp Meyer on The Son, Waterstones Trafalgar Square
The author of American Rust will discuss his bewitching new novel The Son. Read all reviews for The Son
Lorrie Moore on Bark, Southbank Centre
Lorrie Moore reads from Bark, her first collection of short stories in 15 years. All reviews for Bark by Lorrie Moore In Debarking, a newly divorced man tries to keep his wits about him as the US prepares to invade Iraq. In Foes, a political argument goes grotesquely awry as the events of 9/11 unexpectedly manifest at a fundraising dinner in Georgetown. In The Juniper Tree, a teacher, visited by the ghost of her recently deceased friend, is forced to sing ‘The Star Spangled&hellip
Helen Garner and Helen Simpson, King’s College
Since her first novel, Monkey Grip, appeared in 1977, Helen Garner has been one of Australia’s most admired writers of fiction, reportage, essays and criticism. Her first non-fiction book, The First Stone (1995), in which she analyses a case of sexual harassment at Melbourne University, caused a sensation. In The Spare Room(2008), she fictionalises the harrowing story of a close friend’s terminal illness, in a novel dealing with death in a voice that is acute, funny, unsentimental and painfully truthful. The Observer described it as ‘an&hellip
Alessandro Baricco talks to Jonathan Coe about The Save the Story series, LRB
The Save the Story series commissions celebrated writers from around the world to rewrite classic tales for children. Conceived by Alessandro Baricco in collaboration with Scuola Holden in Turin, the series is being published in English for the first time by Pushkin Press. Titles published so far have included Ali Smith’s retelling of Antigone, Yiyun Li’s version of Gilgamesh and Andrea Camilleri’s adaptation of Gogol’s The Nose. More information
Women’s Prize for Fiction, Southbank Centre
The shortlisted authors for the Women’s Prize for Fiction read their work. Now in its 19th year, the Women’s Prize for Fiction was set up to celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women throughout the world. Now sponsored by Baileys for the first time, this is the UK’s most prestigious annual book award for fiction written by a woman and also provides a range of educational, literacy or research initiatives to support reading and writing. This event sees&hellip
Nick Harkaway talks to Sam Leith, Radisson Blu Edwardian Bloomsbury
Literary fans will have a fantastic chance to delve further into the inspirations behind Tigerman, the latest work of the celebrated novelist Nick Harkaway. In Sam Leith’s words: “On June 10th, I’m very pleased to say, we’re going to be hosting the enviably smart and inventive Nick Harkaway at the next Hidden Prologues salon at the Bloomsbury Street Hotel. He’s going to be talking about his new book Tigerman. Nick’s feelings on the subject being as they are I shan’t post&hellip