Street readings – The Fountain in the Forest

I was delighted to have the opportunity to devise a guided walk (with readings) around the block in Holborn, London, of locations from my novel The Fountain in the Forest, which took place yesterday, 3 July, as part of a Summer Symposium, put on by The Culture Capital Exchange (TCCE).

Starting at the Art Workers’ Guild in Queen Square, the walk took in landmarks including the site of Wyndham Lewis’s Rebel Art Centre of 1914 on Great Ormond Street, Sid’s (a.k.a. Conduit Coffee House) on Lamb’s Conduit Street, Holborn Police Station, and the celebrated fish and chip shop Fryer’s Delight, interspersed with readings from The Fountain in the Forest, before making a final stop in October Gallery on Old Gloucester Street for a reading of The Holborn Cenotaph.

In the event we were slightly pressed for time, and were unable to make the slight detour to visit the historic and architecturally pioneering Holborn Library.

I hope there will be further opportunities to give the walk, which takes around one hour. If you are interested in taking part in such events in the future and are not already on my mailing list, you can sign up at the link below.

Here’s the handout that we gave to participants.

The TCCE summer symposium was subtitled ‘Refresh, Reboot, Retool: new imaginaries for challenging times’. Bringing together

academics, artists, creatives, policy-makers and people from other sectors, Refresh Reboot, Retool: new imaginaries for challenging times sets out to create a space in which to encourage, debate, conversation, play, knowledge exchange and co-creation about some of our most important contemporary challenges including: politics, diversity, identity, place and environment.

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Find out more about TCCE, The Culture Capital Exchange

Croatian nights, continued #2

Thank you to the brilliant Maja Vrančić of Udruge KURS for organising and taking some great photos at the event we held at Ghetto Club in Split last night (27 June 2018) to round off my participation in KURS’ Marko Marulić residency programme for writers and translators. Here are a couple of Maja’s photos.

8DZ_3067 (2)As well as reading from my 2018 novel The Fountain in the Forest (pictured), I read a short extract from 2003’s Foxy-T, and chatted with my old friend and collaborator, the Croatian author, playwright and translator Borivoj Radaković, who came down from Zagreb specially, and led the conversation with great wit and authority as ever.

There was a very good turnout in picturesque and convivial surroundings, followed by great feedback and chat. Thank you to everyone that came along – it was a very memorable night :)

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POZIVNIC / INVITATION

As part of my residency in Split with the KURS Association, I will be reading from my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest and talking about this and other works with the Croatian author, playwright and translator Borivoj Radaković—Academia Club Ghetto, Dosud Ulica 10, 2100 Split, Croatia. Wednesday 27 June 2018, 8pm. Please join us. All are welcome!

POZIVNIC

Ljetna Disku(r)sija dovodi nam istaknutog engleskog romanopisca Tony White, gosta splitskog programa Writers in residence, Udruge KURS

Razgovor s piscem vodit će Borivoj Radaković.

Tony White je autor romana Road Rage, Satan Satan Satan, Charlieunclenorfolktango, Foxy-T, Shackleton’s Man Goes South, te The Fountain in the Forest. Uz njih je objavio knjigu putopisa i eseja Another Fool in the Balkans koja je nastala nakon njegovih uzastopnih boravaka u Hrvatskoj te u Beogradu. Objavio je niz pripovjedaka po časopisima, katalozima i antologojama od kojih je jedna od najpoznatija All Hail the New Puritans. Sam je, pak, s Mattom Thorneom i Borivojem Radakovićem uredio zbornik Croatian Nights. Već godinama izdaje izuzetno hvaljenu ediciju Piece of Paper Press. Tony White je izuzetan poznavalac i sudionik književne i umjetničke scene Londona koja živi u aktivnom prostoru izvan mainstreama te sa svakom svojom knjigom i akcijom nudi izuzetan i originalan pristup književnosti. Trenutno boravi u Splitu na rezidencijalnom programu Udruge KURS.

“White is always convivial company. His books [are] characterised by stylistic innovation, a feeling for place, a love of rogues and rebels.” The Guardian (UK)

Disku(r)siju podržavaju: Ministarstvo kulture RH, europska književna mreža Traduki, SDŽ, Grad Split i Hrvatsko društvo pisaca (HDP)

 

Tony White reading at Beaconsfield, London. Photo © Marianne Magnin, 2015

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Tony White, Disku(r)sija (in conversation with Borivoj Radaković), Academia Club Ghetto, Dosud Ulica 10, 2100 Split, Croatia. Wednesday 27 June 2018, 8pm.

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Hello Split!

I am currently in the city of Split, in Croatia, courtesy of the KURS Organisation and their Marko Marulić residency programme for writers and translators.

Marko Marulić (1450–1524) is a hugely influential figure and preeminent in the Renaissance literature of the region, and beyond: his Psichiologia de ratione animae humanae is apparently the first literary reference to psychology.

Here is the celebrated sculptor Ivan Meštrović’s statue of Marulić –  which I came across while walking in the town yesterday. Unveiled in 1925, the statue shows Marulić reading to an audience, and is situated outside the Renaissance Milesi Palace in Split old town, home of the Školske knjiga bookshop, one of two bookshops in the old town.

As well as writing, I will be doing my share of reading to audiences, in Split and elsewhere in Croatia during the coming month, including in Koprivnica on 20th June, where I will be reading from my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest and discussing my fiction with the Croatian novelist Marko Gregur.

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Q. Did you ever use libraries when you were younger?

Back in February I was delighted to give a masterclass – alongside fellow authors including Jeff Noon, Panya Banjoko and Kim Slater – at an event called Storysmash, part of the Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature programme, which delivered a series of brilliant writing workshops for young people in libraries across Nottingham.

While I was there we filmed a short interview, and Storysmash asked me if libraries had been important to me as a young person…

Storysmash is a project delivered by Nottingham City Libraries in partnership with National Videogame Foundation and Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, funded by Arts Council England.

1 June 1985 — “The Battle of Stonehenge”

Taken from Leeds Other Paper of 14 June 1985, this is an eyewitness account of an event that would soon become better known as ‘the Battle of the Beanfield’, which took place near Stonehenge on 1 June 1985.

The Battle of the Beanfield is a central feature of my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest – published by Faber and Faber in January 2018 – so I was pleased to see that the book has been added to the ‘Cultural References’ section of the Wikipedia entry on the Battle of the Beanfield, alongside songs on the subject by Ian Dury, Roy Harper, and Hawkwind.

These scans are of photocopies that I made from the Leeds Other Paper collection held at Leeds Central Library while researching the novel in September 2011.

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Live at Golden Hare Bookshop Edinburgh

I’ll be reading at the celebrated Golden Hare Bookshop in Edinburgh tonight, Weds 9 May 2018, as part of a double bill with the author Jeremy Gavron. Jeremy will be reading from his new Scribe Books novel Felix Culpa, and I will be reading from and discussing The Fountain in the Forest, my new novel from Faber and Faber – published January 2018 – which was recently ‘Book of the Day’ in the Guardian newspaper.

Do please come and join us. All are welcome!

Booking info here…

Tony White reading at Beaconsfield, London. Photo © Marianne Magnin, 2015

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Booking info for Golden Hare Bookshop, Edinburgh, Weds 9 May 2018

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