Literary Calendar
Events for May 27, 2014 through June 18, 2014
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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
Tristram Hunt on Ten Cities that made an Empire,
The award-winning author of The Frock-Coated Communist, and fast-rising political star Tristram Hunt MP has turned his attention to Britain’s imperial past and its continued legacy in the lives and structures of the cities which it shaped. In Ten Cities that Made an Empire he uses a primary accounts and personal reflection to chart the processes of exchange and adaptation that collectively shaped the colonial experience and, in turn, transformed the culture, economy and identity of the British Isles. This talk takes&hellip
Pedro G Ferreira talks about The Perfect Theory with Marcus du Sautoy, LRB
Almost a century after Einstein first proposed it, the full ramifications of the General Theory of Relativity are still being debated. Pedro Ferreira is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and his new book The Perfect Theory brings to life both the science and the scientific controversies which have surrounded the General Theory since its conception. Pedro will be in conversation with Marcus du Sautoy, who has written of him ‘You couldn’t ask for a better guide to&hellip
At Home With Penguins with Tim Blackburn, Vicky Fyson, Sara Wheeler, RSL
In her twenties, travel writer Sara Wheeler spent seven months camping in the Antarctic as the US National Science Foundation’s first female writer-in-residence at the South Pole. Day after day, queues of Emperor penguins followed her about – they belonged there, after all, whereas she was just a visiting writer. But in the zoo, roles are reversed. For this event, part of the ZSL Writers Talks on Endangered Animals series and chaired by poet and ZSL Trustee Ruth Padel, the&hellip
Lynn Barber on A Curious Career, Daunt Books Marylebone
Following on from the sparkling first part of her memoir, An Education, Lynn Barber takes us through her early career at Penthouse where she started out interviewing foot fetishists, voyeurs and men who liked wearing nappies, through her later more eminent career at the Telegraph, Sunday Express, Vanity Fair, Observer and Sunday Times for whom she interviewed politicians, films stars and musicians such as Gore Vidal, Rudolph Nureyev, Lady Gaga, James Stewart and Dirk Bogarde to name but a few. Characterised by her witty and honest style. Deborah Ross, author&hellip
Gruff Rhys, Ben Macintyre, Jonathan Beckman, Rupert Isaacson, Lynn Barber
Gruff Rhys, Ben Macintyre, Jonathan Beckman, Rupert Isaacson, Lynn Barber. Reviews for A Curious Career by Lynn Barber More information
Virginia Woolf In The 21st Century with Maggie Gee and Alexandra Harris, RSL
If Virginia Woolf came back to life today, what would she make of it? How would she feel about what’s happening to books, and to the reputation of her own books, and of the Bloomsbury group? The acclaimed novelist Maggie Gee, whose thirteen previous books include The White Family, My Cleaner and My Animal Life, this month publishes her new novel, Virginia Woolf in Manhattan, which imagines what ensues when an author working in the New York Public Library becomes so passionate about Woolf that&hellip
Chris Darke and Brian Dillon on the literary work of filmmaker Chris Marker, LRB
Film-maker, graphic designer, animator, cartoonist, photographer, internet and new media pioneer, installationist, novelist, critic, publisher – the French artist Chris Marker, who died in 2012 on the day of his 91st birthday was as versatile as he was prolific. He is best known for his film masterpieces Sans Soleil and La Jetée (the inspiration for Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys) but his influence has been felt, perhaps even more keenly since his death, in almost every field of artistic endeavour. In an evening of readings, screenings&hellip