IS80 – exclusive pre-order

It’s a great privilege to have been invited to contribute to this extraordinary signed limited-edition publication to mark the 80th birthday of the writer Iain Sinclair, which is available exclusively to preorder from the LRB Bookshop.

Here’s the blurb:

A unique tribute to a remarkable writer, film-maker and walker, in an edition of only 400 numbered copies – each signed by Iain Sinclair – this 192 page A4 illustrated publication features over 170 contributors, including Peter Ackroyd, Caroline Bergvall, Keggie Carew, William Gibson, Xiaolu Guo, Philip Hoare, Toby Jones, Stewart Lee, Esther Leslie, Rachel Lichtenstein, Robert Macfarlane, Jonathan Meades, Dave McKean, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, J.H. Prynne, Denise Riley and Marina Warner. Featuring original essays, poems, images, letters and reflection from writers, artists, musicians, publishers, friends, critics, booksellers and readers, it is not only a celebration of a unique body of work but also a de-facto history of the last 60 years in experimental literature and culture. It is conceived and edited by Gareth Evans, and designed by Joe Hales Studio.

From the publisher

And here’s the memorable link to find out more and pre-order:

lrb.me/is80

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The jetty

Strolling along the South Bank yesterday evening on the way to the Society of Authors awards I saw afresh this little jetty by the Oxo tower which features in my novel Foxy-T published by Faber twenty years ago this July.

I always think of T and Rooj when I pass this way. Plus the light was so amazing, I had to take a photo this time. And there are *always* people standing quietly on this jetty, looking at the water and having a chat just like they do in the book.

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The Big Read

Thanks to my fellow author Anne Coates for sending through a photo of my reading at The King’s Head in Crouch End, North London, as part of The Big Read: An Evening with Ten of London’s Top Crime & Thriller Authors…

I read from The Fountain in the Forest.

The event was part of National Crime Reading Month which runs through June every year, promoting books, reading and literacy. National Crime Reading Month is an initiative of The Crime Writers’ Association in partnership with The Reading Agency.

There was a great turn-out, excellent readings from all the authors, and really good questions from the audience.

Great fun was had – thanks, all. And thanks especially to author Jennie Ensor for organising.

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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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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…

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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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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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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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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…

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