A CURIOUS MIX OF BRITISH FOLK MUSIC AND AMERICAN POLITICS
Born in Edinburgh, Irvine Welsh was working for the council and studying for an MBA at Heriot-Watt University when he wrote Trainspotting. Published in 1993, the novel was a hit, and in 1996 was made into a film by Danny Boyle. A sequel is released next month, and an immersive theatre adaptation of the original book runs at The Vaults, London SE1, until 15 January. Welsh’s latest novel, The Blade Artist, was published this year. He is married for the second time and lives in Chicago.
A handwritten and hand-illustrated volume of stories given by J.K. Rowling to the editor who launched her career sold at auction for £368,750
Source: ‘Harry Potter’ book handwritten by JK Rowling sells for £370,000 – Edinburgh Evening News
The poet and rapper talked about connecting with audiences, sexuality and the search for inspiration
Enjoyed your gig in Bristol. Listening to you I found myself thinking of William Blake and London mysticism and London radicalism. Does that chime with you?
Yes. William Blake is a huge part of my daily life. I find his work integral. And I go and visit his paintings in the room where they are exhibited in the Tate as often as I can. I read him all the time. There is something to be said for London mysticism, that definitely has its hands on me – I can feel it. It’s definitely a mystical environment for me – there’s a strong current coursing at all times [ . . . ]
Read from the Full Webchat at: Kate Tempest webchat – your questions answered on Jung, dog chat, and why poetry speaks to us all | Stage | The Guardian
Born 100 years ago today, Shirley Jackson wrote stories filled with nameless dread that still speak to women’s anger
I first encountered Shirley Jackson through a single short story, “The Daemon Lover”, which I read when I was 12 without knowing any of her other work. Later, I rediscovered the story, along with the rest of Jackson’s writing, and became a fervent admirer of this brilliant and (at that time) much underrated American author.
In some ways, “The Daemon Lover”, from a 1949 collection is a typical Jackson story. An unnamed woman of 34 (though only 30 on her marriage certificate) wakes up on the day of her wedding to a man called James Harris. Impatiently the woman waits for her fiance to arrive, drinking cups of coffee and obsessing over trivia – her choice of dress, the flowers, the light meal she is planning after the ceremony. Hours pass, and at last it becomes clear that the fiance is a no-show. The woman, who does not know where he lives, leaves her flat in search of him, asking locals for a James Harris in hope of resolving the misunderstanding; after a Kafkaesque sequence of increasingly paranoid encounters, she ends up in front of an apartment door, behind which she can hear voices, but which,