Question Time appearance
Posted by Chris H on February 25th, 2010Will Self is going to be appearing on Question Time from Canary Wharf on March 4, along with Boris Johnson, Shirley Williams and Carol Vorderman.
Archive for February, 2010
On Alice
Posted by Chris H on February 24th, 2010Will Self is going to be talking about Alice in Wonderland tonight at the British Library, 6.30pm.
Conspiracy theories
Posted by Chris H on February 24th, 2010“Conspiracy theories are articles of faith for the masses in an age of unbelief. You will have had the same experience as me on numerous painful occasions: a perfectly ordinary exchange with someone about current political events suddenly veers off-piste and disappears down a crevasse yawning with credulousness. ‘Everyone knows,’ your interlocutor asserts, ‘that Princess Di was assassinated by MI5 to stop her having a Muslim baby … that the September 11 attacks were mounted by the Bush government to provide a pretext for their Iraq oil-grabbing venture … that global warming is a fiction devised by the scientific establishment in order to stop us enjoying our city breaks … ‘
Lent talks
Posted by Chris H on February 23rd, 2010Will Self kicks off a series of Lent Talks on Radio 4 on Wednesday February 24 at 8.45pm, reflecting on the relationship between art and spirituality.
There is also a version of Self’s talk in the New Statesman here.
In Our Time
Posted by Chris H on February 20th, 2010“Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time has become something of a badge to be worn with pride by the contemporary British dilettante. I often find myself groping for conversation, when my interlocutor, perhaps sensing my abstraction, will reveal that she listens to – and loves – the Radio 4 discussion programme on the history of ideas. I, too, am happy to concede that I’m an In Our Time fan, preferring to catch up on it via podcasts listened to on my iPod when I’m walking the dog.
10 rules for writing fiction
Posted by Chris H on February 20th, 2010Will Self’s 10 rules for writing fiction, from the Guardian Review:
1. Don’t look back until you’ve written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work, which is all in …
2. The edit.
3. Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper, you can lose an idea for ever.
The Burning Leg
Posted by Chris H on February 20th, 2010Self has written the foreword to The Burning Leg: Walking Scenes from Classic Fiction by Duncan Minshull, which will be published on April 30 by the Hesperus Press.
Will Self readings and events spring and summer 2010
Posted by Chris H on February 20th, 2010David Eagleman, the neuroscientist and author of Sum, is going to be in conversation with Will Self on March 25 at a rare appearance at Conway Hall in London. For further details and to book tickets, go here.
Perth Festival of the Arts 2010, Perth Theatre, May 28, 7.30pm. For details, visit here.
Lincoln Jackson Lecture Theatre, University of Lincoln, July 11 2010, 2pm. Self will “give a reading of his work followed by a Q and A session on his own work, and on writing in the 21st century”. For further details, go here.
Hotel breakfasts
Posted by Chris H on February 15th, 2010“One of the realest meals there is in the so-called developed world is a hotel breakfast. I say this for a simple reason: no one – unless they are close to expiring – refuses it. You may stagger back to your chipboard hutch, which fronts on to some godawful bypass, at 1.30am, swearing never again to drink with colleagues/clients/long-lost siblings, but the card lying on the bed still gets you salivating.”
Literateur interview
Posted by Chris H on February 10th, 2010There’s a long Q&A with Will Self at The Literateur Magazine, which you can read here.
