James Baldwin: Notes on a Native Son
A one-off collaboration between Bold Tendencies, the arts programme that pops up in a multi-storey car park in Peckham every summer, and the London Review of Books, to celebrate James Baldwin as an essayist, on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
Tackling subjects ranging from life in 1940s Harlem to movies, novels, his relationship with his father and his experiences in Paris, the ten essays that comprise Notes of a Native Son capture the complexity of Black experience at the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement with ‘straight from the shoulder writing about the problems of this troubled earth’ (Langston Hughes).
Resonant passages from these and other essays by Baldwin will be read and discussed by writers and artists including Nicholas Boggs, Rhea Dillon, Ekow Eshun, Deborah Levy, Mendez, Caleb Azumah Nelson and Liam Sangmuah. And anybody else who wishes to speak.
Part of The Fire Next Time!, a whole weekend of Baldwin centenary events at Bold Tendencies.
The Last Days of Franz K, with Tobias Menzies and James McVinnie
After a sell-out performance at this year’s Hay Festival, this is the first London date for an evening of readings and music to mark the centenary of Kafka’s death.
Inspired by the ways in which LRB writers – from Alan Bennett to Patricia Lockwood, Rivka Galchen to Adam Phillips – have thought about Kafka over the years, and by the publication of the first complete, uncensored English translation of his diaries.
The evening will feature readings by the Emmy award-winning actor Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, Outlander, The Crown) interspersed with music from Max Richter’s album The Blue Notebooks – itself inspired by Kafka’s journals – performed by the celebrated organist and pianist, James McVinnie.
The Last Days of Franz K, with Toby Jones and James McVinnie
After a sell-out performance at this year’s Hay Festival, we’re pleased to announce the second and final London date for an evening of readings and music marking the centenary of Kafka’s death.
Inspired by the ways the LRB’s writers – from Alan Bennett to Patricia Lockwood, Rivka Galchen to Adam Phillips – have thought about Kafka over the years, and the publication of the first complete, uncensored English translation of his diaries.
With readings by Toby Jones, who needs no introduction, interspersed with music from Max Richter’s album The Blue Notebooks – itself inspired by Kafka’s journals – performed by the celebrated organist and pianist, James McVinnie.
