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.
Go on a dérive with Will Self for charity
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.
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).
After 100 trips, I know how drugs help us deal with the darker side of life
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.
Brave New World vs Nineteen Eighty-Four
An Intelligence Squared debate from 1 December 2017 between Will, advocating for Huxley’s novel, and Adam Gopnik for Orwell’s.
Politics and Prose talk
Great Apes at Arcola Theatre
Will Self’s novel Great Apes (“Planet of the Apes meets Nineteen Eighty-Four … humorous, gripping and provocative”) has been adapted for the stage by Patrick Marmion (The Divided Laing) and will be on at Arcola Theatre in east London from today until April 21. For tickets, visit arcolatheatre.com. Read what Will has to say about the origins of his 1996 novel and why he’s delighted it’s being adapted for the stage here.
In conversation with Niall Ferguson
Will Self in the US
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.