Piece in the Times in which Will Self is interviewed about The Spirit of Jura, a new anthology celebrating the island where Orwell wrote 1984 and Animal Farm to which Self has contributed – he spent a month at the Distillery Lodge there in 2007 writing this specially commissioned story.
The London Perambulator
The London Perambulator, a documentary directed by John Rogers, will feature an extended interview with Will Self and is being screened at the Whitechapel Gallery in London on April 29 at 7pm as part of the East End Film Festival.
“Leading London writers and cultural commentators Will Self, Iain Sinclair and Russell Brand explore the importance of the liminal spaces at the city’s fringe, its Edgelands, through the work of enigmatic and downright eccentric writer and researcher Nick Papadimitriou – a man whose life is dedicated to exploring and archiving areas beyond the permitted territories of the high street, the retail park, the suburban walkways. John Rogers’ film looks at the city we deny and the future city that awaits us.”
Following the screening there will be an ‘Edgelands’ panel discussion with Self, Iain Sinclair, Andrea Philips and John Rogers looking at art, public space and the potentials hidden in the forgotten corners of the city.
Rogers says: “The documentary is about our relationship with the edgelands of the city and is focused on Will’s friend and researcher Nick Papadimitriou. There are also interviews with Iain Sinclair and Russell Brand. Of particular interest to readers of Will Self is the part of the film where Nick and Will talk about Will’s Interzone project of the 1980s and footage from their walk to Heathrow on the way to LA in July.”
For more information about the film, go here at the London Perambulator.
Twitter ye not
The Twitter address http://twitter.com/willself is emphatically not that belonging to the British author Will Self, as should be evident when you read it (even though it now looks as if it has been “recaptured” by the real Will Self – it has not). Will Self’s Twitter address is http://twitter.com/wself
The Book Quiz
Find out if Will Self and Germaine Greer beat novelist Stella Duffy and former leader of the Lib Dems Sir Menzies Campbell in The Book Quiz on BBC4 at 8.30pm tonight. You can watch again here for seven days.
Life after the Great Recession
Life in the Ministry of Fiction, according to Will Self.
Bushy Park
You can find a Guardian news story about Will Self’s short story celebrating Bushy Park here, one of London’s royal parks, which is due to be published in May, and also Nicholas Lezard’s blog on it too.
Two novels you must read
Two of Will’s novels have been chosen by the Guardian for their 1,000 novels you must read series:
Great Apes (1997)
“Planet of the Apes meets Nineteen Eighty-Four. Simon Dykes wakes up one morning to a world where chimpanzees are self-aware and humans are the equivalent of chimps in our world. Simon has lived a life of quick drugs, shallow artists and meaningless sex. But this London, much like a PG tips advert, has chimps in human clothing but with their chimpness intact. The carnivalesque world is humorous, gripping and provocative.”
How the Dead Live (2000)
“In Self’s irrepressible, motormouthed third novel, you take your emotional baggage with you into the next life – literally. When Lily Bloom dies, she simply moves house: to a basement flat in Dulston, north London borough for the deceased, which she shares with a calcified foetus and her surly, long-dead son. There’s the usual druggy underworld and dazzling wordplay – the book is worth reading for its linguistic fireworks alone – but it’s Lily who gives the novel its emotional resonance and profundity. She’s a wonderful creation: sarcastic, frightened, smart, infuriating and humane.”
Amazon choices
Will now has his own Author’s Choice page on Amazon, which you can find here.
Ceci n’est pas une pipe
Will has written about his pipe collection in his study for Granta.
Walk this way
For a chance to go on a walk in London with Will, visit the Evening Standard’s auction page and bid on lot 39 in their Christmas Charity Auction. You have until December 15 to make a bid.
