Listen to Will Self talking on the Today programme on the day of the Man Booker prize announcement, which will be at around 9.40pm tonight. There’s also a news story on the BBC about Will and Hilary Mantel being joint favourites for the prize.
Insight Radio podcast
Listen to Will Self talking about Umbrella on Insight Radio here. Will is also appearing on BBC 6 Music on Monday 15 October on the Radcliffe and Maconie show after 2.30pm. Listen again here.
Shortlist interview
A recent interview with Will Self in Shortlist magazine, taking in Umbrella, the Booker, the Olympics and more besides.
Umbrella reading and introduction
Will Self introduces Umbrella.
Will Self reading from Umbrella.
Open Book
Listen to Will Self talking about Umbrella on Open Book here.
Channel 4 News
Watch Will Self on Channel 4 News tonight at 7pm talking about his Booker-shortlisted novel Umbrella.
Will is also going to be on RTE1 on Thursday at 10.45pm. You can also watch him debating the legacy of the Olympics on Newsnight here.
Man Booker shortlist
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.
Today programme interview
Listen to a longer interview with Will Self on the Today programme on the BBC website here, talking about encephalitis lethargica, the subject of his latest novel, Umbrella.
Umbrella events schedule
(Also look out for interviews with Will on the Today programme, in Time Out, the Spectator, and on the Robert Elms Show. More to follow.)
August 24: 4pm, Happy Days, Belmore Street, Enniskillen, Will Self in Conversation.
August 25: 9.30pm, Edinburgh book festival, In discussion with Stuart Kelly.
August 26: 8.30pm, Edinburgh book festival, in discussion with “deep topographer” and author of Scarp, Nick Papadimitriou.
September 6: 7pm, Will Self on the digital essay, LRB bookshop event, 14 Bury Place, London, WC1A 2JL.
September 13: South Bank, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Will Self launches his new novel, Umbrella, in the first of a series of events curated by him exploring the legacy and provocation of modernism upon writing today.
Umbrella interview and pieces
As the publication of Umbrella on August 16 nears, Will Self talks to the Observer about his new Man Booker-longlisted novel (and, briefly, his next novel, which will be “Jaws without the shark”.)
Will has also written a piece in the FT about what he terms “everythingitis”, which he feels every time he finishes a book, and how he conducts his research. There’s also a long piece here that he wrote for the Guardian Review about modernism and how he got going as a writer.
