Fountain intro for The Big Read tonight

I’ll be reading from The Fountain in the Forest, my latest novel from Faber and Faber, at The Big Read tonight. It’s been a while since I’ve done a reading from the novel, so I had to scribble myself a quick intro to set the scene!

The Big Read is part of National Crime Reading Month, the #pickupapageturner promotion from The Crime Writers’ Association in partnership with The Reading Agency which runs through June every year.

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The Big Read – 27th June

This should be a good night in Crouch End, north London for National Crime Reading Month.

Why not come and join us?

Poster for The Big Read: an evening with ten of London's top crime & thriller authors! 7:30pm Tuesday 27th June, The King's Head, London N8 8AA FREE

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Buy my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest direct from publisher Faber and Faber…

NEW: to receive invites to forthcoming events and launches, sign up for my *new improved* newsletter…

Bloomsday 2023

Thanks to Bronac Ferran for sharing this photo of my Bloomsday2023 performance in the Keynes Library at Birkbeck, University of London, overlooking Gordon Square; and for convening and introducing the event.

It was great privilege to celebrate Bloomsday in the former home of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, and of John Maynard Keynes. Read more about Woolf’s reading of Joyce’s Ulysses here…

I did a half-hour set* under the watchful eyes/paintings of Duncan Grant (pictured) and Vanessa Bell, for a fantastic and enthusiastic audience, followed by a really fascinating talk from my fellow speaker, the pioneering computer artist Paul Brown (with interlocutor Dr Joel McKim, Director of the Vasari Centre for Art and Technology at Birkbeck).

(Just this week it had been announced that Paul Brown had won the ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art, ‘for his pioneering efforts in the fields of computational art, generative systems, and cellular automata.’)

Thanks, all.

*If you want a flavour of my set, I read two of my short stories: ‘Plain Speaking’ (from Best British Short Stories 2022, Salt Publishing, or read the story gratis here, via Irish Literary Society…); and ‘Apocryphal Fragment from the Lives of the Conquistadors’ (from Steven Hull’s Puppet Show for Glow:Santa Monica, not available in print, but audio here, with Gibby Haynes’ musical accompaniment); and rounded up with ‘The Willingdone Museyroom‘ from Finnegans Wake by James Joyce.

See more of my events and a word about bookings…

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Buy my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest direct from publisher Faber and Faber…

NEW: to receive invites to forthcoming events and launches, sign up for my *new improved* newsletter…

Piece of Paper Press in the TLS

It is a great thrill to see a large reproduction of the writer and artist Andrea Mason’s drawing of a Penguin paperback of Samuel Beckett’s First Love and Other Novellas – and thus a beautiful drawing of Beckett himself – on the back cover of this week’s Times Literary Supplement (No.6272, June 16 2023). The back cover of the TLS is devoted (as usual these days) to the journal’s ‘NB’ column.

The drawing is of course taken from an ongoing series of Book Drawings by Andrea. I’m very proud to have published the first twelve of these in BOOK DRAWINGS #1–12 (POPP.042) earlier this year.

The reproduction in the TLS is accompanied by short note on the history of Piece of Paper Press. With shout-outs to a few other past contributors including Tim Etchells, M John Harrison, Joanna Walsh, and Susana Medina.

It is possible, we are told, to overcomplicate the publication process. With Piece of Paper Press, which he established in 1994, Tony White avoids this danger…

TLS No.6272, 16 June 2023

The NB column is behind the TLS paywall, but as this is no longer the current issue, I hope it is okay to post a clipping here. Thanks, all.

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Buy my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest direct from publisher Faber and Faber…

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Bloomsday shenanigans

On Bloomsday 2023 – Friday 16 June – I’m giving a reading as part of an interdisciplinary event at Birkbeck University of London entitled ‘From “Monkeys on Typewriters” to “Hallucinating Large Language Models”: What Might “AI” Systems Learn from Engagement with Artists and Writers?’

The event also includes the launch by the Computer Arts Society of a retrospective catalogue of the work of pioneering computer artist Paul Brown.

I’m doing a half-hour set of three short pieces. I’ll kick off with ‘Plain Speaking’, my tribute to Bloomsday co-founder Brian O’Nolan, better known as Flann O’Brien, which is now collected in Nicholas Royle’s Best British Short Stories 2022 (Salt Publishing) of course.

And I’ll end with a reading not from Ulysses, but from Finnegans Wake.

It’s a great thrill to be able to take Bloomsday into the heart of the historic Bloomsbury Group (the Keynes Library is a first floor drawing room looking over Gordon Square in the former home of Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell & John Maynard Keynes) especially given Virginia Woolf’s antipathy to James Joyce.

The event is free, but booking essential. More info and bookings here…

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Buy my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest direct from publisher Faber and Faber…

NEW: to receive invites to forthcoming events and launches, sign up for my *new improved* newsletter…

Foxy-T at NCRM

Brisk book sales (and much interesting chat) at #noiratthebar next to the Thames on Millbank in central London yesterday evening! Around twenty authors took part, and the event was part of National Crime Reading Month. It was great fun – thanks all!

I read from the opening pages of my novel Foxy-T, mainly because give or take a few weeks it’s roughly the 20th anniversary of its first publication.

Foxy-T is not usually characterised as crime fiction, except by the critic Mark Lawson who called it a ‘crime novel’ when he reviewed it on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. I think he was probably responding to a murder mystery element that hides in plain sight at the heart of the book!

Anyway, it felt right for last night. Also perhaps because I was on last (more ‘short straw’ maybe than ‘top of the bill’), so wanted to give a barnstorming performance!

Incidentally and ICYMI, any copies of Foxy-T currently showing as ‘in stock’ at Amazon may be the very last of Faber’s mass-market paperback print-run. Certainly, the copies that sold out after my reading last night were the last ones left in the Faber warehouse! So if you’d been meaning to read Foxy-T and wanted to read it in paperback, now may be your last chance to get hold of it new, for a while at least…

Of course Foxy-T is still available in Faber ebook from your favourite ebook retailer.

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Buy my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest direct from publisher Faber and Faber…

NEW: to receive invites to forthcoming events and launches, sign up for my *new improved* newsletter…

National Crime Reading Month: The Big Read

June 2023 is National Crime Reading Month – a partnership between the Crime Writers’ Assocation and The Reading Agency.

I’m delighted to be joining some top crime writers at two events. First up is NOIR AT THE BAR at the Morpeth Arms on Millbank, London SW1P 4RW. It’s easy to find: it’s the pub on the corner a few steps west of Tate Britain. That’s on 11 June from 5–8pm, see my previous post for more info…

Secondly, I’m thrilled to be part of THE BIG READ: AN EVENING WITH TEN OF LONDON’S TOP CRIME AND THRILLER WRITERS, at the King’s Head in Crouch End. Here’s the poster:

Here’s the blurb:

Come and join in the fun at The King’s Head, Crouch End! Meet some of London’s finest crime, suspense & thriller authors – hear them read from their latest books, chat and answer audience questions. We have a brilliant line-up of authors including CWA Historical Dagger winner Vaseem Khan (Midnight at Malabar House, the first in the Malabar House novels set in 1950s Bombay) and Victoria Dowd, author of The Smart Woman’s Guide to Murder series – and many more prizewinning and bestselling authors. Books on sale at discounted prices; please bring cash.

THE BIG READ is also FREE, and there is a booking link here…

Join us!

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Buy my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest direct from publisher Faber and Faber…

NEW: to receive invites to forthcoming events and launches, sign up for my *new improved* newsletter…

Bloomsday special! From “Monkeys on Typewriters”…

I’m really looking forward to our Bloomsday event in the beautiful restored Keynes Library, overlooking Gordon Square in the heart of Bloomsbury.

Photo © Marianne Magnin, 2015

Here’s the blurb:

From “Monkeys on Typewriters” to “Hallucinating Large Language Models”: What Might Non-Human “AI” Systems Learn from Engagement with Artists and Writers?

Come join us to celebrate Bloomsday 2023 in Bloomsbury, London in the company of pioneering computer artist, Paul Brown and celebrated writer, Tony White, author of novels including The Fountain in the Forest (Faber) as well as editor of the cult Piece of Paper Press. The evening combines performative readings, visual presentation and an ‘in conversation’ exchange between Brown and Dr Joel McKim, Director of the Vasari Centre for Art and Technology at Birkbeck. The event will also feature the launch of the print catalogue for Brown’s current and forthcoming Retrospective exhibition in London and Leicester, published by the Computer Arts Society [CAS]. This is a signed and numbered limited edition publication and will be available for purchase.  Dr Bronac Ferran, contributor of a CAS-commissioned essay on Brown’s work for the catalogue, will introduce the event and moderate the discussion.

When: 16 June 2023, 18:30 — 21:00
Venue: Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PD

Limited space. Booking essential.

MORE INFORMATION, AND TICKETS HERE…

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Buy my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest direct from publisher Faber and Faber…

NEW: to receive invites to forthcoming events and launches, sign up for my *new improved* newsletter…

National Crime Reading Month: NOIR AT THE BAR

June 2023 is National Crime Reading Month – a partnership between the Crime Writers’ Assocation and The Reading Agency.

I’m doing two events so far…

First up, on 11th June I’m appearing alongside a great line-up of authors including Graham Bartlett, Katherine Black, Sheila Bugler, Anne Coates, Chris Curran, Caitlin Davies, Derek Farrell, Mick Finlay, Paul Gitsham, C.S. Green, Stacey Haber, A.J. Hill, Maxim Jakubowski, Kate London, Bonnie McBird, Howard of Warwick, Barbara Nadel, Leigh Russell, Alex Sage, Holly Seddon, Jacqueline Sutherland, Aline Templeton, P.D. Viner, and me…

Join us!

Free event | readings | book stall | murderously good company!

  • Morpeth Arms, 58 Millbank, London SW1P 4RW
  • Sunday 11 June, 5:00pm–8:00pm, FREE

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Buy my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest direct from publisher Faber and Faber…

NEW: to receive invites to forthcoming events and launches, sign up for my *new improved* newsletter…

Coronation Day by Tim Etchells

Piece of Paper Press is delighted to have published Coronation Day by Tim Etchells, on 6 May 2023 in a numbered limited edition of 300 copies (+ 3 signed proofs). Etchells’ previous contribution to the series was About Lisa (POPP.004, 1995).

Etchells writes:

Coronation Day is the second story I’ve done for POPP and it nods back to the first, About Lisa, in a couple of ways; adapting the form and cadence of its subtitle, whilst gleefully extending its gesture of narrative and linguistic reduction. Where About Lisa explored narrative as a sequence of short blank-yet-vivid statements, each page a micro-chapter of urban fairy-tale, Coronation Day ups the ante, eschewing the story fragment in favour of the single letter, placing just one alphabetic sign per page, whilst using the book as an elegant if cumbersome means to spell out its simple imperative statement and call to arms. 

Tim Etchells is an artist and a writer based in the UK. He has worked in a wide variety of contexts, notably as leader of the world-renowned performance group Forced Entertainment and in collaboration with a range of visual artists, choreographers, and photographers. His work spans performance, video, photography, text projects, installation and fiction. Tim Etchells was winner of the Spalding Gray Award in 2016, and the Manchester Fiction Prize in 2019. Forced Entertainment won the International Ibsen Prize 2016.

All copies of ‘Coronation Day’ have now been given away.

BUT I have set aside five copies for subscribers to my relaunched newsletter, which comes out on Tuesday 9 May.

You can subscribe to my newsletter here…

Here is the press release for Coronation Day by Tim Etchells.

popp_timetchells-pr-finalDownload

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Buy my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest direct from publisher Faber and Faber…

NEW: to receive invites to forthcoming events and launches, sign up for my *new improved* newsletter…