Tomorrow (Monday) afternoon tickets will be offered for the forthcoming Literary Festival at the London School of Economics (LSE) near The Strand.

Some of the talks look rather good and the full list is below – book tickets via the website links from 2pm on Mon 25th.

All the talks are on Saturday 13th Feb.

I am personally rather tempted by the debate on Jekyll & Hyde and the one on Reading London, with Dan “Gosh! Golly!” Cruickshank.

  1. How to write a novel- an introduction for beginners 10-11am
    • Does the task of writing a novel both excite and daunt you? Using the political novel as an example, this workshop will examine how to progress from initial ideas to a successful draft.
    • Speaker: Justine Mann
  2. War Stories: How to bring the battle to the book? 10.30am-12pm
    • A discussion of war journalism in its historical context. How the great correspondents of the past managed to tell the world about conflicts around the globe. And how in the digital age, governments and the military seek to prevent free reporting of war. Can we ever really report objectively and openly on war?
    • Speaker: Stephen Grey, Sam Kiley, Ros Wynne-Jones
  3. Jekyll & Hyde: Law, Science, Psychology 11am-12.30pm
    • This panel discussion brings together legal academics, psychoanalytical theorists and specialists in nineteenth-century literature in a conversation focused on the historical and cultural significance themes in the novel.
    • Speaker: Professor Mary Evans, Professor Nicola Lacey, Robert Mighall, Professor Juliet Mitchell
  4. Researching and Writing a Political Novel 11am-12pm
    • This session will focus on some of the challenges encountered when creating a fictional narrative from a contemporary political issue.
    • Speaker: Christie Watson
  5. A Q&A Session with Patrick Mercer MP 12-1pm
    • A session with former soldier and BBC radio defence correspondent – now Conservative MP.
    • Speaker: Justine Mann
  6. Literature and the Sciences: Where do they meet? 12.30-2pm
    • Three poets discuss the interrelationship between art and literature and the social sciences.
    • Speaker: Michael Blackburn, Mario Petrucci, Richard Tyrone-Jones
  7. Reading London 1-2.30pm
    • How do we attempt to understand the sprawling “modern Babylon” that is London, with its layers of social, political and cultural history? Can art, architecture and literature help us to ‘read’ this complex city?
    • Speaker: Professor Rosemary Ashton, Dan Cruickshank, Leo Hollis, Hans Ulrich Obrist
  8. The Arts of Illness 2.30-4pm
    • Consciousness of our own mortality is at the heart of the human experience, and has long fascinated writers and artists, inspiring quite an obsession with the body and its well-being. This panel will examine the relationship between creativity, illness and the imagination.
    • Speaker: Dr Jane Darcy, Brian Dillon, Sally O Reilly
  9. Sociology as Literature 3-4.30pm
    • Richard Sennett’s award winning Sociology of Literature explores the role of narrative in social research and in writing sociology.
    • Speaker: Professor Richard Sennett
  10. So Much for That: on illness, death and money 4.30-6pm
    • Lionel Shriver will be discussing and reading from her new novel So Much for That on the cusp of release in March.
    • Speaker: Lionel Shriver
  11. Theatre of Action? 5-6.30pm
    • A discussion between a playwright and director on whether contemporary drama still aims to challenge audiences will be followed by a performance of extracts from ‘reactionary’ drama by the LSESU Drama Society.
    • Speaker: John Caird, Matt Charman
  12. Animating a Myth for our times: The Lawsuit of the Animals against Humanity 6.30-8pm
    • An event that combines a story-telling of the 1000-year-old eco-fable The Animals’ Lawsuit against Humanity with a panel discussion on the story’s historical and literary origins; current biodiversity in the midst of species extinction; the philosophical relationship between humans; and animals and the need for a myth for our times.
    • Speaker: Zeina Frangie-Eyres, Dr Simon Glendinning, Professor Marina Warner, Mark Wright
  13. Speaking of Love 7-8.30pm
    • Four very different writers consider four very different aspects of love: love as enchantment, and love as madness; passion in youth, and compassion in age.
    • Speaker: AS Byatt, Ben Okri, Helen Simpson, Colin Thubron
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