Notes from the London Literature Festival Lecture: Siri Hustvedt

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Anita Sethi

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Why one story and not the other? This was the question at the heart of writer Siri Hustvedt’s thought-provoking Southbank Centre Lecture at the London Literature Festival, author of such acclaimed novels as What I loved and The Summer Without Men.  She went on to explore the question: what does it mean to have an idea? What is an idea? She engagingly grappled with the  ”problem of dualism”, deftly covering philosophies ranging from the “Cartesian divide between spirit and matter” to the present-day, and her lecture was interwoven with a wide range of writers, scientists, and philosophers, with particularly resonant quotations from Margaret Cavendish and also this one from Rumi:

“Don’t turn away, keep your gaze on the bandaged place. That’s where the light enters you” – Rumi

Powerfully describing how her own wounds inspired her to look for answers, she explored some of the issues in her compelling non-fiction book, “The Shaking Woman: A History of My Nerves”.

She also movingly described the voluntary work she has done as a writing instructor for psychiatric patients, both adolescents and adults, and how the written text’s ability to fix something on the page can be a gift for those “at risk of disintegration” and writing’s ability to provide consolidation and integration.

Her new collection of essays, “Living, Thinking, Looking” is published this Summer and Hustvedt elegantly fitted a lifetime of learning into an hour, distilling with wisdom and wit the mysterious process of storytelling peculiar to humans, describing human beings as imaginative creatures who can leap from one thing into another, becoming something else, old or young, woman or man.

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Meet the Author: Chika Unigwe talks to Anita Sethi: “The process of writing has changed me completely”

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Anita Sethi


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By Anita Sethi

LONDON LITERATURE FESTIVAL PREVIEW:

EVENT: NIGERIA NOW: Noo Saro-Wiwa and Chika Unigwe

DATE/PLACE:  4 July, 7.45pm, Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth’s Hall

I first interviewed Chika Unigwe in Trinidad & Tobago during the NGC Bocas Lit Festival.  During our interview, the acclaimed author discussed a host of engrossing topics, ranging from the themes in her compelling new novel, Night Dancer which explores the complexities and contradictions of Nigeria, to ‘nego-feminism’, and how literature has the capacity to effect change.  Her event at the London Literature Festival 2012 is sure to be fascinating so do grab a ticket if you can.

Chika Unigwe’s critically acclaimed second novel,  ‘On Black Sisters’ Street’ (first released in Dutch under the title ‘Fata Morgana’), is a tale of choices and displacement set against the backdrop of the Antwerp prostitution scene and was longlisted for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.  She explained her motivation in writing the book:

“‘On Black Sister’s Street’ was a book I had to write because I was very intrigued by the subject matter of the prostitutes in Antwerp. I had to write it to get the curiosity out of my head.  The process of writing the book changed me completely. It taught me to be a lot more empathic. I saw a face of Nigeria I didn’t know existed. I didn’t know it was such a huge export of women”.

That shows that literature has a capacity to change both the writer and the reader?

“Definitely. It definitely changed me.  My first thought about these women was ‘have they no shame?’, but then I realised through writing the book that some people don’t have the luxury of feeling shame.”

Both ‘On Black Sister’s Street’ and your new novel, “Night Dancer” deal powerfully with the theme of women’s lives, their trials and tribulations.

“Women’s lives is a subject in which I’m very interested, and how women have been oppressed. I went to a talk by Professor Obioma Nnaemeka in which she was arguing that, interestingly, a Western form of feminism isn’t always acceptable in Africa – so ‘nego-feminism’ is negotiated feminism in which you stay within the limits of your culture but manipulate the space you have.  One of the first short stories I wrote after listening to this talk about ‘nego-feminism’ was about a young woman in an abusive relationship.”

The title of your compelling new novel, ‘Night Dancer’, has interesting layers of meaning. Could you explain more about that?

“In ‘Night Dancer’, you don’t really see the protagonist as she’s already dead by the time the book opens. Night dancer is a transliteration of a word used to refer to witches – someone who operates outside the accepted norms. That also refers to my protagonist who breaks all the norms.”

This theme of witches is very topical at the moment with some recent horrific news stories of people being accused of witchcraft and brutally punished.

“A video went viral on Youtube of some self-styled bishop in Nigeria who had an altar call and he accused a woman of witchcraft and when she denied it he slapped her.   The past five years has been really awful as there are women being accused of witchcraft and sent out of their homes.  It’s a society where everything is broken and things don’t work.  If you’re working so hard and your business is failing – who do you blame? your daughter for being a witch?”

The image of the ‘broken society’ has been used powerfully in Nigerian literature, including Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” – is this a theme of Nigerian literature you aim to continue unravelling?

“I worked in politics as a counsellor in Nigeria. The reason I went into politics is the same reason I write – I want to change something. ‘ Change’ is such a big word, but I want to have an impact. That’s what motivates my writing”.

“Be the change you want to see in the world”, as Mahatma Gandhi said?

“At least try to. That’s the greatest thing about being a writer – you can articulate your frustrations with the world and society around you and hopefully someone will read it and it will make a change”.

You also powerfully explore stories and lives and people who have not previously been given a voice.

“The important thing to remember is that all these stories have equal validity”.

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London Literature Festival 2012: Anita Sethi’s top picks

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Anita Sethi

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The London Literature Festival 2012 kicks off in splendid style this week with a host of exciting events featuring a global gathering of writers from places as varied as the UK, Africa, the Caribbean, China, India and the Arab region.   Literature will be viewed in a myriad of exciting forms, from talks, debates, and readings of poetry and prose, to ever more innovative ways of conveying the world through words: the festival will play host to the first ever UK performance of Don DeLillo’s The Word For Snow, and there will be a wonderful weekend of spoken word performance, and Shake the Dust, the biggest UK youth poetry slam featuring top spoken word artists Saul Williams and Kate Tempest and nine teams from across the country competing in the final.

I’m looking forward to chairing four events including two Southbank Book Clubs on “The Sea” by John Banville (Saturday 7th July) and “The Summer Without Men” by Siri Hustvedt (Wednesday 11 July), and events with Monique Roffey, who will be discussing her new novel “Archipelago” (Friday  6 July), and Nikita Lalwani who will be exploring her second novel “The Village” (Saturday 7 July).

Robben Island Bible

Some other events I’m particularly looking forward to blogging from include:

* Robben Island Bible:   Tuesday 3 July
A copy of ‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare’ smuggled into a prison is the starting point for this evening of performance and discussion.  Robben Island is the prison in which Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years, and a global symbol of the apartheid struggle. When Sonny Venkathrathnam, an inmate, smuggled in a copy of ‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare’, it became a treasure, passed between his fellow prisoners, who memorised and wrote down extracts of the work. Theatre director Matthew Hahn has turned this story into a play, featuring extracts of Shakespeare intercut with testimony of the prisoners. This event presents extracts from the work read by Chuk Iwuji, Vincent Ebrahim and Cornelius Macarthy. Before this staged reading, Ashwin Desai gives a keynote talk based on his book ‘Reading Revolution – Shakespeare on Robben Island’.
Noo Saro-Wiwa, author of Transwonderland, and Chika Unigwe, whose latest novel Night Dancer is published this summer, explore the complexities of Nigeria, a country of economic dynamism, corruption and a geopolitical significance, and also a giant literary heritage.
They discuss the role of the writer and activist in the country in the light of recent history.
F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a classic of 20th-century literature, and its themes of glamour, consumption and questionable morality are resonant in our own time. With the staged performance Gatz hitting the West End and a new film due for release shortly, writers, critics and theatre makers discuss the enduring appeal of the novel and the ways in which it has influenced their own work.
In association with LIFT.
 The Great Gatsby

The recent death of war reporter Marie Colvin sparked tributes from around the world and highlighted the perennial dangers in reporting from conflict zones across the globe.

Hosted and curated by Bidisha, this event confronts issues of neutrality, sentimentality, impartiality and true representation through stories from the frontline.
Michela Wrong, who has covered Africa for Reuters and the Financial Times and who is the author of It’s Our Turn to Eat – The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower, joins Edward Lucas, international editor for The Economist, and Luke Harding of the foreign desk at The Guardian to explore the role of the reporter today.

* Asian Bloomsbury: Sunday 8 July

Come and find out how Bloomsbury, the bohemian hub of early 20th-century moderns, was imbued at its heart by India. Indian artists, writers and publishers were familiar faces on its streets, among them MJ Tambimuttu, editor of Poetry London, and novelist and art critic, Mulk Raj Anand, founding-father of the Indian novel in English. Join writers Elleke Boehmer, Romesh Gunesekera, Susheila Nasta and Sukhdev Sandhu to discover more about Asian Bloomsbury. The event is preceded by a ‘Bloomsbury London’ walking tour, highlighting the material traces of the Asian presence and sites of British-Asian encounter.

‘The world. This is our overwhelming subject.’

An extremely rare opportunity to see the first ever European staging of an unpublished dramatic work by Don DeLillo, acclaimed author of White Noise and Underworld. This one-act performance follows an encounter between a modern pilgrim and a self-exiled scholar, attempting to come to terms with the ultimate contemporary question: what is happening? What follows is a dazzling comic and philosophical journey through language, climate change and the modern world, written with the characteristic beauty and insight that has long made DeLillo one of our greatest cultural commentators.

* Granta: Britain in the World - Tuesday 10th July

What do Britain’s writers think and feel about the country they call home?

Granta: Britain in the World

Siri Hustvedt gives the 2012 Southbank Centre Lecture based on her new collection of essays Living, Thinking, Looking, a book which explores art, memory and its relation to her own life. Describing herself as an outsider, an unaffiliated intellectual roamer who follows her nose and has found herself on unexpected ground, the essays make reference to philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, psychoanalysis, neurology and literature. Siri Hustvedt is the internationally acclaimed author of the novels ‘What I Loved’ and ‘The Summer Without Men’ as well as the non-fiction work ‘The Shaking Woman or A History of My Nerves’.

We Are Poets
Anita Sethi will be blogging from the London Literature Festival 2012 and tweeting at @anitasethi

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LOVE FEST: AN EVENING WITH LISA APPIGNANESI

Posted on July 18, 2011 by filmaluation

“Everything is about love, and love is about everything.” So begins Lisa Appignanesi.

On Monday 4th July in the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, as part of the Great Thinkers strand, two writers, Lisa Appignanesi and Hanif Kureishi, discussed the former’s new book – All About Love. We were spoiled to have Kureishi as the gentle inquisitor! Did I hear that right? The book is about the lifespan of love. Wow. Who wouldn’t be interested in that?! Appignanesi looked at psychology, philosophy and literature. Not poetry and lyrics, as were too expensive. The remit included falling in love, and sustaining/maintaining love. “Hanif is in the book too.”

Romantic/sexual love is like a form of madness, says Kureishi (from now on ‘K’). Lisa Appignanesi (from now on ‘LA’) responds that it is a delirium, quoting Shakespeare and others. Passion is unruly, irrational, fuelled by unconscious desires. K, “Why would anyone want that?” LA – we find meaning of intensity, and of the body, especially when we’re young. It is personal and cultural/societal, the latter where romance comes from. K, like a devil’s advocate, states that the less you know someone the more you like them. They can fix your problems. LA says that romance was traditionally for women, used for men to civilise them, and make them more attractive. K mentions it is an illusion. LA answers very well, with the idea that we need the illusion so that barriers can be overcome for people to come together. K asks about the attraction of adultery (a theme in his work, Intimacy). LA says there are the forbidden and obstacles and the zing, but it is often short-lived. She talks about us growing up in threes; including in a single parent family, there is the spectre of the third. The third person introduces aliveness into a relationship, re-stimulating youth. K has never been married, is looking forward to it, LA makes it sound appealing [audience laughs]. LA says you can introduce a child to be the third.

LA opines it is hard to talk about love in public. On the page or with another, it’s intimate. K – men don’t talk about love or relationships. L tries to break apart the Mars/Venus paradigm. She is not an evolutionary biologist, and doesn’t believe in stereotyping sexual relations. K asks about other kinds of love – e.g. love for children. LA looks at the manifestations of love. They talk about parenting, identity, expectations, advice columns; the last can be a problem because you don’t live up to expectations. There is also talk about the women (female independence) and gay (permissiveness – you can love the man or woman in the same person) movements being the biggest change to relations. K enquires re the generation above, who seem less tormented by someone better out there for them. LA quotes Balzac, “Domesticity is the great master that kills love”. But there may be less ecstasy, but more pleasures. Writers don’t often admit that they like a routine; and K agrees – writers are very organised.

K questions about scandals in the paper every day, people risk everything. LA answers that celebrities are like our gods, they live out heightened lives. The two then talk about the point of marriage. The history is of property and progeny. In the West, it is love, passion, settled life and progeny; a huge burden of expectation. LA thinks that second marriages tend to be more successful than the first. Why? More settled? Laughter is very important in a relationship. LA wisely suggests that we give power to the other by desiring, by loving. If you worry about how much sex you should have, and what positions, that can kill it.

LA then reads from her book. K states that the people you love are the people that you hate, e.g. child being spanked. LA adds to that; the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Love is passion. When you fall in love, you fall in love with the “who”, and when you leave it is because of attributes, the “what”. Hate is “who” too. NB/ with dating agencies, you don’t fall in love with attributes. K and LA both rather cutely call each other “the love doctor”.

There was so much to analyse and discuss further I could’ve happily listened for hours more. Lisa Appignanesi is charismatic and articulate, while Hanif Kureishi has a droll wit. I was so fascinated by this perceptive and universal discussion, I bought the book and started reading it immediately. And that hardly ever happens. What a great Festival.

By Hemanth Kissoon

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Romantic Revolution in 1930s England

Posted on July 14, 2011 by timstks

It is the middle of the 1930s and the artistic world is in crisis. Promising abstract artist John Piper has just released his latest piece, a collage made from coloured paper and paint. There is uproar amongst his contemporaries and the arts graduate is branded a traitor. The unthinkable has happened.

The picture is a landscape. And not just any old landscape. It’s a landscape of a British seaside.

John Piper is the hero of Alexandra Harris’ recent book, Romantic Heroes. She spoke at Southbank Centre as part of the 2011 London Literary Festival, to talk about her work which looks into the confused state of English culture during the interwar period.

At a time when the continent was in awe of people like Picasso, England was undergoing it’s own revolution. Artists such as Piper and John Nash were keen to break free from the ties of being labelled as either traditionalists or modernists. Both men set about mixing the artistic forms together, looking at the quaintness of the traditional English landscape through the eyes of a modernist. For many from all quarters of the art world, this was beyond a step too far.

Alexandra Harris with chair Francis Spufford

Yet we learn that this distortion of identity was not being limited to art. Harris covers an incredible range of English society – from literature and photography, to gardening and even cookery – finding evidence of people from all areas of life discovering new ways to look at old England.

She introduces figures like Ralf Handcock, a prominent gardener who liked to build traditional English gardens out of the finest English materials. Except he liked to place them in rather modern places, such as upon the top of the Rockefeller Centre in Manhattan, New York. During it’s creation, Handcock insisted only English materials were used, hence rocks were imported by ship from the Lake District and traditional English trees had to be hoisted by crane on to the roof.

Then there are writers of the period like Virginia Woolf and Evelyn Waugh, both of whom clearly have had a huge impact on Harris. Through books such as The Lighthouse and Brideshead Revisited the authors centred on traditional England, “full of landscape and weather”, but wrote about it in a new and different way.

Even the guidebooks of the time were keen to promote an exciting bold and playful country, providing a new outlook for well-known popular destinations.

Alexandra Harris’ talk is a fascinating insight into a hidden section of English society. She clearly has an incredible passion for the period, getting visibly excited at the mention of characters such as Bill Brandt and Edith Olivier. She has an enormous breadth of knowledge about the time period too, dipping into topics as wide as fascism in farming to books on traditional pie making.

At a time when Southbank Centre is itself looking back at the 1951 Festival of Britain, it seems particularly apt for Harris to be telling us about a similar thing happening in England’s past.

Read more about Alexandra Harris’ Romantic Moderns

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Casting One Hundred Years of Characters

Posted on July 12, 2011 by timstks

“It was all hell!” For author Alan Hollinghurst, writing the follow-up to his Booker-prize winning novel The Line Of Beauty was clearly not some easy stroll in the park.

The award-winning novelist’s appearance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, as part of the 2011 London Literary Festival, follows the release of his new book A Stranger’s Child. The novel, Hollinghurst’s first for seven years, takes the reader on an enthralling journey covering nearly a century of history, following a large cast of characters as their lives intertwine, fading in and out during the proceedings of the book.

Indeed, the large period of time covered by the novel means no single character from the book’s beginning is alive by the time it ends. This means an enormous number of characters appear during the work, each of them bringing their own intriguing story as the events unfold. The Stranger’s Child manages to achieve this incredibly well and as such it is a joy to hear the writer discuss how he forms such an interesting group of people.

Alan Hollinghurst signing books

From the talk’s outset, it is clear Alan Hollinghurst is not particularly fond of the majority of figures in his book. “I’ve always enjoyed killing people off,” he declares, adding that it was part of the joy of “the novelist’s power”, (probably just to clarify to anyone watching that he only meant death in the most literate of sense).

For Hollinghurst, the people he enjoys writing about most are those he personally likes the least. Dudley, he says, is one character he especially enjoyed creating. Furthermore, he likes to give each person he writes significant flaws, leaving the reader uncertain about their feelings and sympathies towards every character they come across. The novelist is very careful not to give any of his characters – or even the reader – an easy ride.

This method for forming his characters is one Hollinghurst has stuck too throughout his career. When asked about who his favourite was out of all the figures he had created, the author simply states, “I don’t really like any of them much.” Creating disagreeable people is the charm of writing about them, he asserts. Had any of the figures throughout his career actually existed it appears unlikely they would be included on his Christmas card list.

Long queues for Alan Hollinghurst's book signing

It therefore comes as a surprise when Hollinghurst admits that most of the figures he creates have similar interests to him. The author stresses the importance of immersing himself in the world of the character, and allowing “everything [to] follow from that”. For The Stranger’s Child, Hollinghurst highlights the character Paul Bryant, someone he describes as “the most difficult character I have ever tried to write,” because he has completely different interests to those of the author.

For some characters in the book, Hollinghurst found inspiration from real-life figures of the twentieth century. He talks about the character Cecil, someone he based loosely on the English poet Rupert Brooke. Still, he stresses the importance of building these people from imagination rather than sticking too close to reality.

'The Stranger's Child' by Alan Hollinghurst

For Hollinghurst, a large number of historical novels of recent times have been spoiled through too much research, meaning the imagination of the writer is replaced by well-written information. The novelist therefore trusts his own mind when giving a voice to his characters from the different time periods. For example, for Cecil he had to create a large amount of ‘pastiche’ poetry, in a style which could have been written at the start of the twentieth century. This was something he thoroughly enjoyed doing, stating, “I can write bad poetry endlessly!”

Throughout his career, Alan Hollinghurst has created a diverse range of enthralling and intriguing characters. The Stranger’s Child is a book that substantially adds to these. It is now up to the reader to add their own imagination to the people that appear in the story.

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Gilbert & George: Blending Normality and Weirdness in London’s East End

Posted on July 11, 2011 by timstks

It is the second night of the London Literary Festival and the artists Gilbert & George are on the stage of the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Next door in the Purcell Room, the first ever theatrical performance of ‘Sexing The Cherry’ is going on. It does appear the festival is having one of its less literary days.

Yet this is much to the credit of the festival organisers. The event brings an incredibly diverse group of talented people into the area and it is inspirational to hear about their work. An evening with Gilbert & George in particular delivers one full of surprises, even for the most ardent of fans.

For anyone sitting in the hall with no knowledge of the work of Gilbert & George, it would appear that little out of the ordinary is occurring. Just two smartly dressed gentleman in similar brown suits discussing their life’s work. It could quite easily be a pair of sixty-year-old relatives sitting around at a family gathering talking about their years gone past (albeit a family gathering in a very large hall which requires a ticket for entry). Except you don’t generally hear sixty-year-old relatives get quite so excited when they talk about the time they were branded “beasts and sexual perverts”. George in particular seems to relish the chance to say something a little naughty.

“We never do anything that has a point” – Gilbert & George

It is fascinating to hear the pair discuss their work and lives in the East End of London, the area where they have both lived since beginning art courses at St Martins School of Art in the 1960s.

As artists, Gilbert & George are adamant about where they stand. Quite simply, away from everybody else. They are not anti-establishment. They are not rebelling against anything. They are just independent. As George puts it, “the key is to be normal and weird at the same time”. It sounds a rather tricky balance to achieve, especially in a world that is constantly changing.

Yet in a career which has spanned nearly fifty years, the pair do not believe their art has ever changed. It is only everything around them that has. Whilst they have been happy to incorporate new technology in the creation of their work, the subject matter does not alter. Gilbert & George will always be their art.

For example, when asked whether they were happy to use computers to create their work instead of the older photographic methods they started with, George simply state’s “the only thing we miss is the rubber gloves!”

It is clear how important the East End is to the pair both in life and work, and their fondness for the people in the area. At one point, George recalls a story about a newspaper seller in Liverpool Street who they walked past everyday for several decades and would always give them a friendly greeting whenever they saw him. Over the years, age took it’s toll on the newspaper seller and at one point it became clear the man was gravely ill, yet he would always still say hello. Then one day he stopped the pair and told them he wanted to recite a poem that had been passed down through his family. After that, they never saw the newspaper seller again and had to assume he had died.

Reading the poem, George talked about the extraordinary gift this dying man had given them. An example of the diverse range of people who live in the East End and the unexpected things that occur there everyday. The fact that it was a particularly cheeky and rather rude limerick probably helped make it’s mark on the artists too.

This was an evening which featured everything from Gilbert & George’s average day (each day being very regimented and beginning at 5.30am, starting with an hour spent “reading dirty stories”), to the revelation of a new body of work, and even a rendition of their first major piece ‘The Singing Sculptures’. In many ways this was more than just a talk about the artists’ career, but every much as fascinating a performance as the one going on in the room next door.

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Top 5 Picks / 5 days left / Happy 5th Birthday, London Literature Festival

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Anita Sethi

This year celebrates the 5th birthday of the London Literature Festival and if you’ve not managed to catch any events yet, don’t fear!  There are still 5 days left, and below are a selection of  5 great events that I’m looking forward to.  There are plenty more to see, so do browse the programme.

To celebrate the festival’s 5th birthday, on Thursday I found myself standing on the Queen Elizabeth Hall’s lovely roof pavilion garden which offers glorious views over the River Thames. Yet it was not the view that most engaged me but the sight of a scarecrow in the pavilion garden.  The garden commemorates the Festival of Britain and has in part been created in partnership with homeless people.  It was an evening packed with delights:  I saw Ali Smith read from a specially commissioned essay on Tracey Emin to tie in with the Emin exhibition currently showing at the Hayward Gallery and Smith and Rachel Holmes both gave some brilliant readings of a range of literary passages pertinent to Emin’s work as well as from Emin’s work itself.

Ali Smith and Rachel Holmes at London Literature Festival

They then engaged in a fascinating discussion which in part drew out the parallels between roles of the writer and artist, and their shared concern with ‘narrative’. Alan Hollinghurst also appeared discussing his marvellous new book, whilst we were also treated to an event with Ben Okri who this year celebrates a landmark anniversary for the publication of “The Famished Road”. Film maker and novelist Xiaulo Guo also presented her band The Syndicate in a beguiling evening of poetry, spoken word and music.

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Top 5 picks for the rest of the festival: 

London Literature Festival


The Post Show Party Show

Friday 8 July 2011 – 19:45

Award-winning writer and performance artist Michael Pinchbeck takes his parents on tour to recreate the post-show party where they met after an amateur dramatic production of The Sound of Music. His mum was a nun. His dad was a Nazi.

A poignant re-enactment to the iconic soundtrack, The Post Show Party is ‘a teasing, gently witty and entertaining piece about the shifting nature of reality’ (The Guardian).

‘Fans of The Sound of Music will love this wonderfully ironic twist on their favourite show, and anyone else will simply be charmed by the beauty of a family under construction in the past and still creating today.’ (The British Theatre Guide)

Selected for the British Council’s Edinburgh Showcase 2009. Supported by Dance4, Nottingham City Council and the National Lottery through Arts Council England

Alexandra Harris: Romantic Moderns

Monday 11 July 2011 – 19:00

“Alexandra Harris’ groundbreaking book Romantic Moderns, which won the Guardian First Book Award, challenges the idea that Modernist design could only be hi-tech and futuristic in style. She discusses how an alternative sense of the ‘modern’ developed in the work of mid-century English writers and artists, including Virginia Woolf, John Piper and Bill Brandt, who were in touch with the landscape, locality and climate of England at the time.”

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Zaha Hadid

Tuesday 12 July 2011 – 19:30

Zaha Hadid’s groundbreaking and often controversial architecture offers a vision of the future in the present day. She discusses her work and her vision in this event.

In a career spanning over 30 years, her buildings have continued to evolve in terms of structure and design, and continued to challenge conventional thinking.

Ranging from the quieter scale of her Maggie’s Centre in Kirkcaldy to the spectacular Maaxi Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, Zaha Hadid’s ideas continue to re-define urban life across the globe.

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Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Tuesday 12 July 2011 – 19:45

Jocelyn Bell Burnell is one of the leading scientists of her generation. Join us for this illustrated talk as part of our Great Thinkers series, in which she explores how humanity is directly linked to the cosmos, with the carbon, iron and calcium in our bodies originally coming from the stars.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell was one of a team who discovered the first radio pulsars when still a postgraduate student, and has since gone on to win world renown in a male-dominated field. Her scientific belief that ‘nothing is static, nothing is final, everything is held provisionally’ has become a benchmark for her practice and life.

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Liz Lochhead

Wednesday 13 July 2011 – 19:45

Named Scotland’s National Poet in January, Liz Lochhead gives an exclusive reading at London Literature Festival. Renowned for her intimate and unpretentious style, Lochhead’s poems adopt a range of spoken styles, making this evening a feast for the ear. Her poetry gives expression to both the marginalised voices of women and of Scots; she has said of her work, ‘My language is female-coloured as well as Scottish-coloured’. She reads a selection of her poetry followed by a discussion.

Liz Lochhead will be in conversation with Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of Southbank Centre.

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The Cultural Importance of Sausages and Mash

Posted on July 8, 2011 by timstks

Philip Pullman launches the 2011 London Literature Festival

This year’s London Literary Festival began with a talk from the author Philip Pullman at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. During a fascinating evening, a transfixed audience were taken through the life and works of the Norwich-born writer, everything from the comic book-loving youngster to the much-loved author of today.

A particular theme of note was Pullman’s description of how the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy came about. One of the most amazing children’s books of recent times was created – rather modestly – as a result of a lunch with the author’s publisher, which consisted of some “particularly excellent sausages and mash”. When asked by his publisher what he would like to write next, even much to his own surprise, Pullman declared he was keen to create a new version of John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. With both men possibly over-enthused by what were some particularly good sausages and mash, the pair excitedly bounced thoughts and ideas off each other for several hours and ‘His Dark Materials’ was born.

This rather unplanned and spontaneous approach to the trilogy seemingly continued as the work began to take shape. Key themes in the book seemed to appear at random and developed fluidly over time. The author spoke about how the all-important element of the daemon occurred, an idea which only formed as he struggled with what was “the fifteenth draft of the first chapter”. This integral theme which featured so strongly in the trilogy only came about as a highly frustrated Pullman decided he needed to take drastic methods and “adopt the Raymond Chandler approach” (when in doubt, have a man enter the room with a gun) i.e. when in trouble as an author, simply surprise yourself.

“Time spent telling a great story is never time wasted” - Philip Pullman

It was incredible to hear how Pullman worked as a writer. Whilst his methods appear systematic, bordering on superstitious (he always writes using the same pen, upon the same type of paper, within the same room), his ideas seem to appear from rather more ambiguous beginnings.

It would be interesting to hear how other books of his were developed, and similarly those of other authors too. To think of the number of books which have been created out of just a random thought or conversation. How important have the specific circumstances of motive and method been to creating some of the great literary works throughout history? For example, a person I know (who shall remain nameless) once wrote and got published a chapter of a book simply because they needed to buy a new hall carpet. What would have happened if the rest of the house had needed re-decorating too? Would the chapter in question have changed or been added to? Could it have become a book or even a trilogy?

Similarly, think of the number of great stories which have been lost because of the wrong circumstances. Would ‘His Dark Materials’ have ever materialised if it had not been for that conversation and those particularly excellent sausages and mash?

In my opinion, we are greatly indebted to that particular lunch.

Filed under: London Literature Festival 2011 | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

SING WHEN YOU’RE WINNING: AN EVENING WITH GILBERT & GEORGE

Posted on July 5, 2011 by filmaluation

Two legends of the art world convening at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre on Friday 1st July. This was on my must attend list the moment I became aware of it. When I was training to be a lawyer, a copy of Red Morning Trouble was hanging in my flat; and the original is currently hanging in the Tate Britain. In 1977 they felt like Britain was falling apart. Red is for love, danger, blood.

Beginning at the beginning, chairperson for proceedings Martin Bracewell, states that the 25th September 1967 was a momentous day – at London’s most famous art school, St. Martin’s, Gilbert and George met. They then dedicated themselves to being art. This event coincides with the publication of their latest The Complete Postcard Art of Gilbert & George.

Bracewell likens the dynamic duo to Dickens, as a chronicler of a moral vision of London; and tells them they are not part of a school, or a movement. Gilbert & George (G&G, from here on in – they say they are two people, but are one artist. They know each other – live and drink together. They know the end result. Personal taste is not enough, the result is.) say they were very poor and had a “life box” to show galleries – a living sculpture, one that feels. Their end of term project was exhibited in Frank’s Sandwich Bar on the Charring Cross Road – an anathema to those at the school – liking the claustrophobia. G&G talk about going up against the typical at the beginning. “The art stands still and the world changes around it,” George about their work. They even did a piece, George the Shit and Gilbert the Cunt [I think it’s that way round!]. They are at ease with dropping the c-bomb in conversation. Funnily enough, they seem to link to the Philip Pullman talk the day before: vitality versus authoritarianism and censorship.

The Singing Sculpture caused them to get noticed. They exhibited it in New York for two weeks, and drank at night with famous contemporaries. One person said yes in 1970, no-one else did. Responses to their work included the words “mad” and “extreme”. They felt critics were polite at first, then vociferous against; and also felt not accepted, and got to like it. G&G are outsiders in the sense they are independent artists. Many pop stars, especially in the early 1970s, asked them to do record covers. G&G turned down commissions – they do not want others’ wants and desires when they go into a studio.

G&G then give a big scoop – their next project! They are preparing a huge group of pictures, 292 culled from nearly 4000 newspaper posters that you see outside newsagents. Each one has a title panel, and a picture of the Queen from coins across the Commonwealth. They read out the titles alternating between each other, in a hypnotic rhythm, from two different points in the alphabet. Titles include: ‘Life’, ‘Accused’, ‘Addict’, ‘London Crime’, ‘Arrest’, ‘Lover’, ‘Machete’, ‘Man Dies’, ‘Money First’, ‘Mother Straight’, etc.

G&G then talk about their locale. They were country boys and settled in East London, and think planet Earth is typified on Liverpool Street and Brick Lane. The neighbourhood hasn’t changed, but is “changing”; but contradictorily they also say that if you turn off the colour in East London, it could be the 19th century. These two statements make sense though. G&G talk about their process and their life. They do use computers, but no assistants – doing everything themselves. G&G do so much art that six shows can be going on, otherwise if you don’t live in a London, Paris, NY, you have to wait years for an artist. They also make catalogues, so even more can see their work.

The audience have their turn to quiz. Because of the earlier mention of theosophy, an audience member asks them about their belief in the occult. Their response is that they don’t believe in anything, but being alive; but would ban religion, and decriminalise sex. Asked about their process, G&G say it is a mystery. Do it first, and let others ask questions after. Following on from that, is it instinct or intellect? They are very informed, lots of research, they know a lot, and then they do it. A balance between being normal and weird. G&G answer a question on their relationship with London: London and the Western world has changed; London in 1969 was primitive. There’s still room for improvement. They don’t complain though, they are positive – they won’t sign a petition against something. They have a very small group of dear friends, and waiters are important, because they have to talk to G&G. Asked about what does an artist rebel against now, their response is that they are not anti-establishment. If pop stars and artists have the same view, it is unoriginal. But they are against religion – indoctrination, Gilbert’s is a Catholic background and George Methodist, they have been trying to free themselves.

G&G are good raconteurs, and know how to deliver a punchline. They seamlessly tell an anecdote together. And they conclude the evening by performing The Singing Sculpture, what a coup, where it all began!!

The Singing Sculpture

By Hemanth Kissoon

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Filed under: London Literature Festival 2011, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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