READING IN A TIME OF CORONAVIRUS

Richard Harries will be convening a series of seminars on T.S.Eliot’s Four Quartets on Thursdays at 4pm on Zoom beginning on January 7th 2021 and lasting for one and a half hours. The Four Quartets seminar series Time: weekly at 4pm Thursday 7th Jan 2020 to 4th Feb...

Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet has been crowned Waterstones’ Book of the Year 2020, claiming victory over the shortlist by ‘an overwhelming majority’. This  book which focuses on the short life of Shakespeare’s son has already won the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020....

The BBC2 has recently launched Between the Covers on Fridays at 7.30. The seven episodes are hosted by Sara Cox with four celebrity guests who discuss one particular Book of the Week title, their own recently published book, their favourite book and favourite...

The latest Booker shortlist was announced in mid September. This was variously described as diverse, fresh, and baffling. A lot of observers were dismayed by the absence of twice-winner Hilary Mantel. This is probably the best known fiction prize in the UK. It was...

The BLS is very pleased to give you more information about a new literary venture that the BLS is happy to support, taking place in Barnes this Autumn.  On the 1st October tickets went on sale for the inaugural Barnes Book Festival.  The brainchild of a heady mixture...

The Snow Kimono by Mark Henshaw, published in 2014 by Tinder Press ‘In Japan, we have a saying:  If you want to see your life, you have to see it through the eyes of another.’ Spoken by one of the main characters early on, this provides the rationale for the narrative...

Sally Rooney’s Normal People has bounced back to the top of the bestseller lists. This is not surprising after the successful TV dramatisation which is now available on BBC iPlayer. The novel was first published in January 2018 and hit the bestseller charts mid 2019. ...

I have become quite a fan of podcasts over the last year having thought they were complicated to locate, down-load and listen to.  Podcasts are currently experiencing a boom in listener numbers So if you haven’t moved into the podcast world here are some simple tips:...

Almost too late (The Glasgow Climate Summit 2020)  By Juggy Pandit   Friendly Thames our friend no more Now spreads a mile from shore to shore. Angry waves lap ancient domes And modern towers of rusting bones.   The dark and viscous oil we burnt The trees we...