Thank you Pete for sharing your beautiful words, music and humour with us :)
Composer Pete M Wyer shared some verses from his poetry chapbook, The Dance Around the Fire, published by the San Francisco publisher Alternating Current, as well as some music pieces on Tuesday evening, 2 July. It was an informal event with some irreverent and tongue-in-cheek fun, including a short performance of Pete's 'play' 'Neanderthals.'
Thank you Pete for sharing your beautiful words, music and humour with us :)
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Author and publisher Meike Ziervogel shared the extraordinary story of Magda Goebbels. How could a woman, who at one time embraced Zionism and almost converted to Judaism, become a Nazi fanatic? How could she bring herself to not only commit suicide but also murder her children? Meike's exploration of Magda's life blends historical facts with fiction; however, the themes explored in Magda transcend biography and historical fiction. Magda raises a host of difficult questions - how estranged familial relationships can lead to tragic circumstances, the impact of the cult of Nazism on a defeated Germany after the First World War - driven by Meike's urge to understand how a mother could have committed the ultimate crime of killing her own children. Bestselling author and journalist Kris Hollington and his wife, photographer Nina Hollington, set out to explore the most scandalous moments of their city’s history, in this author event on 19 June 2013. Sharing stories and photographs from their latest book, Criminal London: A Sightseer's Guide to the Capital of Crime, Kris and Nina took guests on a virtual tour of scenes of infamous murders, watering holes frequented by notorious felons, the homes of great consulting detectives, and famous locations such as The Clink, Tyburn Tree and Bow Street Police Station. Thank you Kris and Nina! It was lovely to have Jen Campbell in the store on Wednesday 10 June 2013 to share more funny stories from her latest book 'More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops.' Jen's prequel 'Weird Things Customers Say...' is a bestseller and we were really chuffed to hear that it's been translated to several languages, including Swedish and Chinese (if I remember correctly). Congrats again, Jen! Jen works at Ripping Yarns, an antiquarian bookshop located at Highgate, so if you're around the area, do drop in. A passionate advocate for independent bookshops, Jen's been doing the rounds to share more funny stories collected from bookshops around the world, from as far afield as Hong Kong to South Africa. Signed copies in store :) To read Jen's blog and more about her adventures in bookshops (and other stuff too), visit her blog here. Louisa B. Waugh spent a considerable amount of time in Gaza, where she absorbed the culture and came to love and admire its people's resilience, dark humour and drive to make a better world for themselves. She was at W&T last night to share her insight into the Gaza strip, including sides not often seen or heard in news reports. She shared vignettes of life in the Gaza strip -- stories about Christian celebrations during Ramadan, Gazans love for the sea, and the challenges faced by this indomitable people amidst the continued conflict between the Israel-Palestinian states. It was a moving event, and there was even a touching moment between Palestinian author Rabai al-Madhoun and Louisa. Thank you to Louisa, Rabai, and Saqi Books, and all who joined us for a memorable evening. W&T hosted a Platform65 open mic poetry and music session on 1 June 2013, with special guest, the Paris-based zheng harpist, writer and literary translator, Fiona Sze-Lorrain. It was an intimate afternoon with wondeful poetry, beautiful music and awesome talent. Thank you to all who joined in. Watch this space for more acoustic sessions and literary events - coming soon! You can register for events updates here, so you don't miss out! http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/register-for-updates.html If you could reimagine a future without the threat of climate change, what would it be like? If you could imagine a present where nothing changes, what would the future hold? A group of award-winning British authors were commissioned to devise original responses to one of the greatest challenges of our time - climate crisis. The result is Beacons: Stories for our Not too Distant Future. On hand to share what inspired them to contribute to this anthology were Gregory Norminton, Toby Litt and James Miller at W&T on the evening of 22 May 2013. This sparked a lively debate that ranged from environmental to socio-political issues, consumerism/capitalism to spirituality. Thank you to the fabulous authors for sharing their ideas and vision with us, and many thanks to those who joined us and contributed towards a thought-provoking evening. Dr Joseph Hanlon, visiting senior fellow at LSE, and Teresa Smart, visiting fellow at University of London, were on hand on 15 May 2013 to share the findings from their most recent book, Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land. Their research indicates that - beyond the headlines - real lives have been changed by the land reform of year 2000; with many families and women now empowered to make a livelihood, and how their efforts have contributed to higher employment and lower rates of poverty. Their findings provide much food for thought on the upheavals of the postcolonial world and how people, in displaying immense resilience, overcome these. Thank you for a thought-provoking evening! It was an honour to have author, playwright and poet Maureen Duffy at W&T yesterday. A campaigner and activist for writers' rights, Maureen has been a literary trailblazer since her debut novel was published in 1962. To date, she has published 31 works of fiction and non-fiction, including six collections of poetry, and 16 plays for stage, screen and radio. A prolific writer, Maureen's latest work, Environmental Studies, is both a reflection and meditation of her past and the present, including works which have inspired her. As she reminded us last night, having grown up in the shadow of the Great War and lived through the Second World War, she has seen, heard and experienced much -- Environmental Studies is a journey into the varied cultural worlds she conjures. As always, it was an honour and a pleasure to have author Clare Mulley come to speak. She had come to speak at W&T in 2010 (when we were still located in Bermondsey) about Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children, and her thorough research and fascinating presentation was truly insightful. Her latest book, The Spy Who Loved, is about Christine Granville, the first female British spy of WWII. Clare brought Christine to life during the presentation, and the photographs, archival documents and stories she shared were fascinating. Christine's story was bigger than fiction in every sense of the word, and her life, a testament to a woman's courage and determination to succeed in a world where so few dared to tread. Get your signed copies in store! |
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