As part of Shakespeare and Company‘s celebration of the centenary publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses, Will reads the first episode, which you can listen to here. Listen to the rest of the readings of the novel here when they become available.
A Figure of Speech – a new short story
“Sitting at a bar, dabbling with a digital map on his phone, the man is approached by another. He ignores him but later discovers the stranger is connected to this phone map. Connected in a disturbing way …” Listen to Will reading his short story at the Radio 4 website here (available for 19 days).
The North London Book of the Dead
Listen to Will Self reading his short story “The North London Book of the Dead” on Radio 4 here until 9 May. It was first broadcast in 1995.
The Shore at the Royal Academy
Bookslam 57
Listen to Will Self reading from Umbrella and being interviewed in this Bookslam podcast (respectively at the 29min and 9min 30sec mark).
The Great Automatic Grammatizator
Listen to a sample of Will Self reading the Roald Dahl short story “The Great Automatic Grammatizator” here, from a new audio collection of Dahl’s stories, Someone Like You, published by Penguin, which also includes readings by Stephen Mangan, Richard Griffiths, Richard E Grant, Tamsin Greig and many others.
The Whiteness of the Whale
Listen to Will Self reading chapter 42 of Moby Dick, The Whiteness of the Whale, as part of the Moby Dick Big Read.
The Minor Character on Sky Arts 1
Fun interview between Will Self and David Tennant in the Evening Standard about Will’s short story The Minor Character, which has been turned into a short film on Sky Arts, and which stars David Tennant as “Will”, 12 April, 9pm on Sky Arts 1 (sky.com/arts).
The Death Of A Government Inspector – Will Self and the English National Opera
The Death of Government Inspector by Will Self from English National Opera on Vimeo.
Will Self has contributed a very short story, The Death Of A Government Inspector, to the English National Opera’s new search for global talent called Mini Operas. Everyone is invited to listen to stories by Will, A.L. Kennedy and Neil Gaiman and then write a 5 – 7 minute script for an opera based on the story. You can read the full details of the Mini Operas competition on the official site.
The Book of Dave audio book
The unabridged recording of The Book of Dave – all 18 hours and 15 minutes of it – that Will Self recorded last Autumn has been released by Whole Story Audio Books for £30.62. Details here.
