Please do go along to support the Chandos House treatment for addiction sponsored abseil tomorrow from 11am to 5pm at Clifton Downs, Bristol if you can. The details are on their Facebook page here and you can donate here.
Will is giving a Funzing talk entitled “Is the left dead?” at The Emmanuel Centre, Marsham Street, London, SW1P 3DW on Tuesday 31 July, from 6.45pm to 8.45pm. “With the far-right on the rise and the left in disarray, what does the future hold for socialism?” For more details and to book tickets, visit uk.funzing.com.
On Wednesday 11 July there is a very rare opportunity to learn about psychogeography and how to enact the dérive (drift) – the Situationist’s method for creatively remaking the world – with Will, starting at the Chandos House Treatment for Addiction in Bristol.
The morning session will be for Chandos House residents, as part of their ongoing therapy – and the second will be open to those who’d like to contribute something to support the work of the facility and learn something about this technique. Will stresses that you don’t have to be an artist or writer to gain from the dérive, but that people who work creatively may well find it extremely helpful.
There’s a rare chance to catch Will in the States this week – tonight at 7pm he’ll be at a free event at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138; on Thursday at 7.30pm he’ll be reading from Phone with Martin Amis at 92ND STREET Y, Unterberg Poetry Center, 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY, 10128; and on Saturday at 6pm he’ll be at: Politics and Prose book store, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC, 20008.
Wednesday 24 May: 6pm, International Literature Festival Dublin, Smock Alley Theatre, 6/7 Exchange Street Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin. (This event is being recorded for broadcast on The Book Show for RTÉ Radio 1.)
Tuesday 30 May: Radio 5 Live Afternoon Edition live interview. Later that evening, Radio 4 Front Row live interview.
Friday 2 June: 5.30pm, Hay festival, Tata Tent.
Tuesday 13 June: 7pm-8.30pm, Guardian Live in conversation with John Mullan, Islington Assembly Hall.
Thursday 29 June: 8pm, Hebden Bridge arts festival, Town Hall HX7 7BY.
Friday 30 June: 7pm, City Books, Ropetackle arts centre, High St, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.
Will Self is going to be giving a lecture at Brunel University London on March 16 at 5.30pm on the relationship between isolation and the novel. Could it be, he wonders, that the novel is the defining art form of the singular and unitary consciousness as self-conceived? If so, in a world in which we’re always connected, will there be enough isolation to provide its psychic substratum? Tickets are free but you will need to register here.
Will Self was on Channel 4 News this evening, talking about the privatisation of public space. He’ll be at the Space Probe Alpha event tomorrow at Potters Fields Park in London. The event is free and starts at midday. For more details visit their Facebook page here.
Will Self is going to be reading a specially commissioned piece in the spirit of Pepys at a special, themed Book Slam at the National Maritime Museum, London on Friday January 29. Tickets: £6 event/ £12 including exhibition ticket. Doors open 6.30pm for a 7.30pm start.
9 October: Royal Academy, An evening of short stories with Will Self in partnership with Pin Drop.
14 October: In conversation with Bruce Robinson – Looking for Jack the Ripper, Guardian Live event, St Leonards Shoreditch Church, 7pm.
16 October: Hillingdon literary festival, 6pm. An evening with Will Self.
23 October: An audience with Will Self, Great Hall, Blackheath Halls, 8pm.
4 November: Will Self in conversation with Max Saunders, 6.30pm, King’s College London. Free but booking required.
10 November: LRB bookshop, 7pm. Nicotine: Gregor Hens in conversation with Will Self.
Will Self is the patron of the Architecture Foundation’s Doughnut festival at the University of Greenwich on 5 September, “A day long exploration of London’s rapidly transforming periphery” with Hanif Kureishi.