Will Self discusses a range of issues provoked by his digital essay Kafka’s Wound at thespace.lrb.co.uk with Nicholas Spice and Helen Jeffrey from the London Review of Books, and Dan Franklin, Digital Publisher at Random House.
Is this unique digital essay a proto-form for a new type of deeper engagement with long form content on the web? What can modernism tell us about the digital storm sweeping through our world? How might collaborative digital authorship move forward? What next?
A short trailer for Flytopia, based on Will Self’s short story from Tough Tough Toys … with music by Adrian Utley of Portishead.
Will Self’s Umbrella has made it on to the Man Booker shortlist, along with Tan Twan Eng’s The Garden of Evening Mists, Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home, Hilary Mantel’s Bring up the Bodies, Alison Moore’s The Lighthouse and Jeet Thayil’s Narcopolis.
To read a sample chapter from Umbrella go here.
The winner of the 2012 prize will be announced on 16 October.
Will Self is going to be part of a panel discussion about physics and cosmology at the Royal Society tonight with Stephen Hawking, Dara O Briain, Athene Donald, Martin Rees and Adam Rutherford. To follow the debate, go to @DiscoveryUK or follow the hashtag #StephenHawking on Twitter.
Stephen Hawking’s three-part series Grand Design begins on September 13 on the Discovery channel.
There’s a very rare, highly collectible first edition copy of Will Self’s Slump, published in 1985, for sale on eBay here, signed by Will. The cartoon strip originally ran in the New Statesman.
The young man in the artisanal bread shop said I had met his wife yesterday and talked with her at length – of this I remembered nothing. He was an earnest soul, oval faced, blond, with slightly pointed ears – he wore a blouson jacket with a round collar.
Will Self’s “digital essay” on Kafka has been published in its entirety at the Space website, and includes an hour-long video of his trip to Prague and readings of Kafka’s “A Country Doctor”. For a short explanation of this unique London Review of Books commission, go here or visit thespace.org or @thespacearts for more details.
A quick note for American readers – Umbrella is published in the USA on 8th January 2013 by Grove Press. Pre-ordering is available at Amazon.com. For more information about Umbrella and to read an extract, see the full page of info on Umbrella.
Will Self was awarded Writer of the Year (Consumer Media) for Esquire magazine at last night’s Professional Publishers Association awards. Read two recent Esquire pieces here.
June 15: As part of the UCL Festival of London and Literature’s One Day in the City, Will Self is going to be talking about nightwalking with William Raban, Matthew Beaumont (who co-edited the excellent Restless Cities) and Ger Duijzings from 2pm to 3pm at the Darwin lecture theatre. There will be a showing of William Raban’s short film The Houseless Shadow before the discussion. Entry is free.
June 19: Will is going to be in conversation with Mike Shamash reflecting on how writing about disability has changed and the potential for a new paradigm at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre from 2pm to 6pm. Details here.