September 14: Stephanie Williams will speak about her new book Running The Show, a portrait of the British Empire told through the lives of the Victorians who governed the colonies. |
Past Salons
Elif Shafak
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Deborah Levy
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Anne Sebba and Elena Lappin
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Amanda Craig--Writing the Contemporary Novel
 Her most recent novel, Hearts and Minds, following the lives of several immigrants living in London, was long-listed for the Orange Prize. A leading figure on the London literary scene, Amanda Craig has tackled contemporary topics in her novels including inequality, social class, human trafficking and other social issues in urban life. Hearts and Minds was praised by the Telegraph as "a sympathetic, thought-provoking and deeply moving account of the strange, shifting beast that is our capital." A.N. Wilson hailed her 1996 novel, A Vicious Circle, by saying that "the greatest novelist under the age of 50 has now stepped onto the stage." Amanda Craig is also an award-winning journalist and continues to write reviews and journalism for The Guardian and other newspapers. She is currently working on her seventh novel, set in Devon and London. "It's a novel about a marriage in deep trouble, and about the role money plays in a relationship," she writes on her blog. She was in conversation with Catherine Davidson, author of The Priest Fainted, called by Amanda Craig "the most enchanting book about Greece since anything by Lawrence Durrell." Catherine Davidson currently teaches creative writing at Regents University in London and blogs about writing and life across two cultures at Medium. |
Dispatches from Syria
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November 25 2015 Autobiography in Truth and Fiction: Rachel Cusk in conversation with Catherine Temma Davidson
 Rachel Cusk has been called by the New York Times "One of the smartest writers alive." Her novels and nonfiction explore the great themes of our lives: marriage, motherhood, relationships, the tensions in the lives of women between private selves and public mythologies. Named by Granta in 2003 as one of the 20 best Young British novelists, she has published eight novels and three controversial memoirs. Her new book, Outline, is an innovative masterpiece of autobiographical fiction that offers insight after insight in beautifully lucid prose. In a recent Guardian interview, Cusk asserted that "autobiography is increasingly the only form in all the arts"--a strong statement from a writer who never shies away from controversy. Our November Salon offers an opportunity to hear from one of the leading writers in the UK talk about her work and how she sees the fictional landscape today. Catherine Temma Davidson is the author of The Priest Fainted, called by Amanda Craig "the most enchanting book about Greece since anything by Lawrence Durrell." |
June 24 2015 Vesna Goldsworthy in conversation with Eva Hoffman
 The novelist Vesna Goldsworthy in conversation with Eva Hoffman. Vesna’s
satirical novel "Gorsky" is about a Russian oligarch who builds a
mansion on the Thames. The book, which openly uses the "Great Gatsby" as
its model, deals with themes of power, money, love and London real
estate. Vesna is a Serbian writer and poet who teaches writing and
literature at Kingston University. Eva is author of "Lost in
Translation." |
Wednesday, May 13 World War I Salon with Kate Williams, Clare Clark, and Nicola Beauman
A salon with a World War I theme--two salon members and historical novelists, Kate Williams and Clare Clark in conversation with Nicola Beauman of Persephone Books, which has published novels written at the time. Kate’s new novel is called “The Storms of War” and Clare’s is entitled “We that are Left." The discussion emphasized domestic life on the home front. |
Poetry and Science: Ruth Padel, Lavinia Greenlaw, and Emily Grosholz
Poetry and Science: Three Poets on Interweaving Two Cultures Speakers: Ruth Padel and Lavinia Greenlaw in conversation with Emily Grosholz Wednesday, 11th March 2015 drinks at 7:00 pm speakers at 7:30 pm conversation until 9:30 pm Ruth Padel is a poet, novelist and conservationist, who has explored natural science subjects in poetry and prose. Her poetry-prose book The Mara Crossing asks why do animal species migrate--and why do we? Ruth has also explored scientific themes in her poetry collection Darwin: A Life in Poems and in Tigers in Red Weather, about wild tiger conservation. Her tenth poetry collection Learning to Make an Oud In Nazareth was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. She teaches poetry at King's College London. Lavinia Greenlaw has published five collections of poetry, including Minsk, and The Casual Perfect, and several novels. She was the first artist-in-residence at the Royal Society of Medicine and wrote a poem marking the centenary of the Theory of Relativity for the Science Museum. She has made documentaries on the Arctic, the Baltic, Emily Dickinson, the darkest place in England and the solstices and equinoxes. She won the 2011 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. Emily Grosholz is a poet, philosopher and literary critic. She teaches philosophy at Pennsylvania State University, where she specializes in philosophy of physics and mathematics. Her most recent scholarly book is Representation and Productive Ambiguity in Mathematics and the Sciences; lately she has recently been working on case studies in cosmology, population genetics, and number theory. Her seventh poetry collection, Proportions of the Heart, is a book of mathematical poems that also weaves in themes of emotion and family. She is an advisory editor for the Hudson Review, where she often writes literary criticism and travel essays. |
Apprentice Night: Elif Shafak and Alix Christie on their new novels.
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