Tag Archives: Southbank Centre

Book Events: Barbara Kingsolver and Young Writer of the Year 2018

Prodigal Summer Barbara KingsolverI will be taking a short break from blogging in December while I sort out moving to my new flat but I have been to two great book events this month to take my mind off some of the stress. Rebecca at Bookish Beck has been on a roll winning free tickets on Twitter recently and after our trip to see Wise Children at the theatre last month, we went to see Barbara Kingsolver in conversation with Samira Ahmed at the Royal Festival Hall in London a couple of weeks ago where we also met up with Laura from our Wellcome Book Prize shadow panel. Continue reading

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The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist Readings

Southbank Bailey's Women's Prize for FictionYesterday, I went to the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist Readings event at the Southbank Centre in London where the authors gave short readings from their nominated novels and then answered a few questions from this year’s chair of the judges, Helen Fraser, and the audience.

The shortlisted books this year are:

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Undertaking by Audrey Magee

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt Continue reading

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The Man Booker Prize Shortlist Readings

Last night, I went to the Southbank Centre to listen to the shortlisted authors for this year’s Man Booker Prize give readings from their nominated novels.  I really enjoyed a similar event for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in June so I bought a ticket for this one as soon as possible.

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The Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist Readings

Last night, I went to the Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist Readings event at the Southbank Centre in London and it was every bit as awesome as I hoped it would be.

Over the last couple of months, I have read five out of the six books on this year’s shortlist.  In summary, ‘May We Be Forgiven’ by A.M. Homes was the most dysfunctional (i.e. my least favourite), ‘Flight Behaviour’ by Barbara Kingsolver was beautifully written, ‘Life After Life’ by Kate Atkinson had an intriguing concept which was handled very well, ‘NW’ by Zadie Smith had excellent dialogue and ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ by Hilary Mantel was an impressive interpretation of historical events.  Sadly, I haven’t had a chance to read ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’ by Maria Semple yet but I will try and seek out a copy in the future.

Anyway, this is my ticket for which I paid the princely sum of £6 (gotta love student discounts).  I also took my copies of ‘NW’ and ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ with me.

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