Literary Calendar
Events for July 15, 2014 through September 25, 2014
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American Interior: Gruff Rhys and Iain Sinclair, LRB
In the summer of 2012, Gruff Rhys, the lead singer and guitarist of Super Furry Animals, made a bizarre pilgrimage across the United States. He was following in the footsteps of his distant relative, the pioneering explorer and cartographer John Evans, who had set off from Snowdonia in 1792 in an attempt to track down the legendary Welsh-speaking Native American tribe, the Madogwys. (This tribe – who were, inevitably, too good to be true – also inspired two long poems,&hellip
Poets’ Love Letters, Southbank Centre
To celebrate Southbank Centre’s Festival of Love, hear readings from heartbreaking love letters. Harriet Walter and Guy Paul read the letters between Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb, Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Rilke and Marina Tsvetaeva. Ben Lamb reads Keats and Rupert Brooke. Susannah Fielding reads Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Pablo Neruda Jason Hughes reads one of Dylan Thomas’s last letters to his wife Caitlin, as well as Ted Hughes, Wilfrid Owen and Russell Edson. Steve Toussaint reads Flaubert, Faiz and Paul Laurence Dunbar This&hellip
50 Love Poems, Southbank Centre
Hear fifty of the greatest love poems from the last 50 years. More information. Actors and poets from across the globe come together for a celebratory reading. What does love give us? It gives us hope; courage; defiance. Through these poems we look at the world as it is now, through human qualities that counteract hate: love, empathy, humanity. Part of Poetry International Hear fifty of the greatest international love poems from the last 50 years. A star cast of&hellip
Rise of the Domestic Thriller at the Bloomsbury Institute
Psychological thrillers in which girlfriends mysteriously disappear, husbands turn out not to be who you thought they were (or end up roasted and eaten) have gripped the nation. We peer under the covers of the domestic thriller to find out what it is we love about a gripping suspense that’s too close to home for comfort. Bestselling author of Before We Met, Lucie Whitehouse, and serial psychological thriller writer Julie Corbin discuss the rise of the domestic thriller and reveal the twists, turns, lies,&hellip
Susie Orbach talks ‘Jungles of the Mind’, London Zoo
In the presence of one of the most beautiful and endangered “fauna of the night” - inhabitant of the world’s last remaining jungles - the distinguished psychoanalyst Susie Orbach talks about “jungles of the mind” at the ZSL London Zoo. It’s part of a regular series where ZSL conservation scientists and keepers team up with leading writers to talk about the animals in the Zoo. Alongside the animals, the writers speak imaginatively about their responses to them and ZSL’s experts talk about their&hellip
The Ranters: Nigel Smith talks to Stephen Sedley
The Ranters were a disparate group of religious and political radicals who flourished during Britain’s revolutionary moment, from the outbreak of the Civil Wars to the early years of the Commonwealth. Ever since the mid-17th century their extreme libertarianism has been an inspiration to several generations of revolutionaries, as well as the subject of heated debate amongst historians. Nigel Smith’s A Collection of Ranter Writings was first published in 1983 and struck an immediate chord with radicals in a Britain&hellip
Polari with Paul Bailey, Southbank Centre
Paul Bailey headlines author and journalist Paul Burston’s celebrated literary den. He talks about his new novel The Prince’s Boy. Bailey is joined by Janet Ellis, Tiffany Murray, Vernal Scott and Wayne Herbert. Recently named one of the world’s top LGBT events by ArtInfo,Polari literary salon returns for the summer season, offering the very best in new, established and up-and-coming LGBT literary talent. Hosted by Paul Burston, Polari was described by The New York Times as ‘London’s most theatrical salon’ and by Sarah Waters&hellip
Strange meetings: An evening of War Poetry with Mario Petrucci, Southbank Centre
Mario Petrucci guides us on an unexpected journey through the poetry of WW1 and WW2. The World Wars represent crucial turning points for our civilisation. Mario Petrucci introduces us anew to those war poets we have come to admire but also, just as poignantly, to those of immense influence who are now long forgotten. Utilising original recordings and live recitation, Petrucci conveys the poets’ messages directly, generating a powerful and intimate experience of war poetry. More information
H is for Hawk: Helen Macdonald and Tim Dee
Helen Macdonald and Tim Dee will be at the shop to talk about birds, and about writing about birds. Radio producer Tim Dee propelled himself into the front rank of British nature writing in 2009 with his remarkable birdwatching memoir The Running Sky, followed in 2013 by Four Fields. Helen Macdonald, writer, poet, naturalist, conservationist, historian and some-time falconer, has recently published H is for Hawkwhich recounts how, under the literary tutelage of T.H. White and in part as a strategy for overcoming personal grief, she&hellip
Book Slam East, York Hall Bethnal Green
Good evening fight fans! Tonight, Book Slam heads to iconic East London boxing venue, York Hall, for the most anticipated heavyweight contest in recent memory and twelve rounds (probably) of high calibre literary sparring. In the blue corner, we have internationally renowned storyteller, one-time street brawler, drug dealer, convict, Chicago Golden Glove Champion, bull runner and author of ‘The Old Neighborhood‘, BILL HILLMANN. In the red corner, please make some noise for guitarist from The Slits, punk legend and author of&hellip
Divine Comedy: Tom Pickard and Philip Terry at the LRB Bookshop
In an exciting poetry double bill, Tom Pickard and Philip Terry will be reading from their latest works. Tom Pickard’s Hoyoot: Collected Poems and Songs was released this year from Carcanet and bears witness to a fifty-year career of lyric, narrative and satiric verse, always politically engaged and permanently open to influences from popular culture and global poetic traditions – Allen Ginsberg called him ‘one of the most live and true poetic voices in Great Britain’. Philip Terry’s new collection Dante’s Inferno (also from Carcanet) relocates the narrative&hellip
David Harsent on African Hunting Dogs, 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 exhibits of ZSL London Zoo. David Harsent: David Harsent has&hellip
Can’t and Won’t: An evening with Lydia Davis
In a rare London appearance Lydia Davis will reading from and discussing her unique body of work. More information
Sarah Walters at the Stylist book club, Holborn
Sarah Walters, the acclaimed author of Tipping The Velvet and Fingersmith will be discussing her sixth novel, The Paying Guests. Set in Twenties London, it focuses on 26-year-old Frances and her widowed mother, who take in lodgers to make ends meet. When Leonard and Lillian Barber move in, Frances begins a friendship that threatens to disrupt the household in ways they never could imagine. The Bookseller has called Waters’ latest novel a “gripping tale of class, sex and the consequences&hellip
Owen Lowery and Poet in the City, Southbank Centre
Owen Lowery performs his poetry, and Poet in the City present great poetry in sign language. Lowery reads from his acclaimed book of poetry Otherwise Unchanged. He is joined by Poet in the City, who take language to new limits withThe Body Electric, a project bringing together poetry and sign. Taking words off the page and performing them live in BSL, celebrated deaf actors bring fresh and surprising new light to classic poems, from Robert Frost to Rabindranath Tagore. These performances&hellip
The Lives of Others: Hilary Mantel and Harriet Walter
In a recent Guardian interview, the actress Harriet Walter reflected on the impossibility of ever really knowing another human being. Yet, like the novelist Hilary Mantel, she has devoted her professional life to inhabiting characters not her own, often historical ones. Walter’s notable roles include Elizabeth I, Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra, while Mantel has twice won the Man Booker Prize for her extraordinary portrayal of Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (all reviews here) – adapted for the stage&hellip
Cavafy with David Constantine & Louis de Bernières, Kings Place
Poet in the City presents a celebration of the life and work of C.P. Cavafy. Exploring some of the fascinating themes arising from his poetry, from the erotic to the historic, this event will celebrate a unique poetic voice. Cavafy was widely regarded as one of the most important poets of the modern age, bringing a bold honesty to the pursuit of pleasure. Poet and translator David Constantine is joined by author and poet Louis de Bernières, in an event which features live poetry&hellip
Literary lunch with Esther Freud, First Story
The author of eight novels, Esther Freud was born in London in 1963. As a young child she traveled through Morocco with her mother and sister, returning to England aged six. In 1979 she moved to London to study Drama, going on to work as an actress, both in theatre and television. Her first novel Hideous Kinky, was published in 1992 and was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and made into a film starring Kate Winslet. In 1993, after the publication of&hellip
Tom Holland on Asian Lions, 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 exhibits of ZSL London Zoo. Tom Holland Tom Holland&hellip
Laurie Lee Centenary: Valerie Grove in conversation with Geordie Greig
In 1934, a young man walked out of his native village in Gloucestershire, bound for London and eventually Spain, where he was caught up in the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. But the real story of Laurie Lee’s youth was far more romantic than the one he told in his memoirs, Cider With Rosie and As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning. The key figure was his mistress and muse, Lorna Wishart — who ultimately broke his heart when she left him&hellip