British Library Events

As always, lots going on at the BL:
London: a Life in Maps - new exhibition opening 24 November
"See London as you have never seen it before, as this once in a lifetime exhibition brings to life Londons' lost lanes and landmarks, parks and palaces, riots and railways, towers and temptations. Maps, views, letters, and ephemera from the British Library collections, bring to life the city's transformation from a Roman outpost to the huge, heaving metropolis of today, and look to the Olympic and post-Olympic future."

BOOKBINDING 2006, 9 December 2006 - 4 February 2007
"prize-winning entries to the annual Bookbinding Competition organised by Designer Bookbinders. "

and for other events, see http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/whatson/whatson.html?EMK_PSwo19_LK02_2006_11_whatsontop

jon mcgregor

His debut novel, if nobody speaks of remarkable things, was an extraordinary debut. Longlisted for the Booker in 2002, it "presents a "day in the life" of an unnamed inner-city street. Like one of the characters, a young man who collects litter and junk and obsessively documents his existence with Polaroids, McGregor records people's ordinary lives through a series of snapshots on a late summer day. " (Guardian, 20 Aug 2002) Early on you become aware that something dramatic is going to happen, but he maintains the narrative suspense right to the end. It is wholly original, and it was disappointing that despite the Booker connection it received little notice amongst reviewers and readers.

I hope the same thing does not happen to his latest, so many ways to begin. About a man in search for the truth about his origins, it spans four decades in the lives of two families. As the blurb says, his "lyrical, intimate novel explores what happens when our lives fail to take the turns we expect, and the ways we learn to let go of the people we might have been". For the middle aged reader, perhaps, but I guarantee that this novel will prove one of the best you've read in ages.

Guardian article about Jon McGregor: http://books.guardian.co.uk/bookerprize2002/story/0,12350,777549,00.html

Irvine Welsh, 2 December

7:45 in the Purcell Room at the South Bank Centre. Irvine Welsh discusses his latest controversial novel, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs.
Tickets £8.50. http://www.rfh.org.uk/main/events/132409.html

Poetry International, 24-29 October, Queen Elizabeth Hall

"Poetry International brings you the very best poets from around the globe in an extraordinary six-day starburst. From world premieres to your favourite British poets; from dynamic performance to debate and workshops - catch the magic of poetry in all its shapes and colours."

Go to http://www.rfh.org.uk/poetryinternational/ for full details of the rich and stimulating programme.

Private Peaceful, Nov 5

"Michael Morpurgo, the 2004-05 Children's Laureate, joins the outstanding English a cappella trio Coope Boyes & Simpson for the first London performance of this innovative and moving show. Based on Morpurgo's award-winning book Private Peaceful, the show combines evocative readings by the author with powerful, lyrical songs and pipe tunes written and arranged by Coope Boyes & Simpson. The music matches Morpurgo's narration as the story of Tommo Peaceful moves between humour and tragedy - from childhood in a Devon village to the Western Frront's trenches during the First World War."

Sunday 5 November 2006, 5:30 pm in the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre.
tickets £12, under 16s £6. Not available online - call 08703 800 400 for details.

Michael Frayn on a life in writing, Nov 22

"Michael Frayn confronts the biggest philosophical and scientific questions in The Human Touch, a book that mixes the popular with the profound, in his own inimitable style. What would the universe be like if we were not here to talk about it? And would it seem so vast without our own smallness to give it scale? Would there be scientific laws, if there were no words or numbers in which to express them?

Frayn discusses these questions with John Carey, one of Britain's most insightful critics. John Carey edited the Faber Book of Science and has written on a vast range of subjects, most recently the polemic What Good Are The Arts?""

Wednesday 22 November 2006, 7:45 pm in the Purcell Room at the South Bank Centre. £8.50
http://www.rfh.org.uk/main/events/132396.html

Talk to the Booker Shortlisted authors!

Read the transcripts of chats between reading groups across the UK and the shortlisted authors, starting with Sarah Waters and Kate Grenville:

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/2006prize/chats