In a Dark Time the Eye Begins to See: Anne Michaels and Dan Gretton in Conversation

An investigation into crimes against humanity

An evening of conversation and readings with author and activist Dan Gretton and the eminent Canadian novelist and poet Anne Michaels.  

It marks the publication of Gretton’s I You We Them: Journeys Beyond Evil, The Desk Killers in History and Today, a landmark historical investigation into crimes against humanity and the nature of evil that is over two decades in the making.

They discuss the role of writing in the face of unprecedented political and environmental crisis, the way that history has overlooked the critical role of the ‘desk killers’ who ordered and directed some of the worst atrocities of the last two hundred years, and their corporate counterparts today. What has been the impact of such moral myopia on our world? 

The evening also celebrates the inextinguishable power of resistance – of, as John Berger writes, ‘refusing to accept the absurdity of the world picture offered us.’ 
 
The event is hosted by writer and curator Gareth Evans and will be followed by a book signing

Dan Gretton is a writer, activist and teacher. In 1983 he co-founded the pioneering political arts organisation Platform, in Cambridge, where he studied English literature. As well as working with Platform over many years on the human rights and environmental impacts of corporations, he has also developed radical initiatives in adult education and has lectured internationally on the subject of the ‘desk killer’. After more than a decade of research, aided by a major award from the Lannan Foundation, he embarked on the writing of I You We Them. He currently divides his time between north-west Wales and east London, where he shares his garden with a family of foxes.

Anne Michaels is a novelist and poet. Her books are translated into more than 50 languages and have won dozens of international awards, including the Orange Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, and the Lannan Award for Fiction. Among many other honours she has been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, honorary degrees, and has served as Toronto’s Poet Laureate. Her novel Fugitive Pieces was adapted as a feature film. Her most recent books include All We Saw, Infinite Gradation and Railtracks (co-written with John Berger).