Dear walking book clubbers,
What a book! So much devastating power held in so few pages. I can’t wait to discuss Chinua Achebe’s stark landmark of African literature with you on Sunday on the Heath or on Monday evening on Zoom. For a short introduction, have a look at THIS GUARDIAN CLASSICS REVIEW.
Book your space for Things Fall Apart
Many thanks to those who have already booked their spot for our April events. If you’ve yet to do so, here are the buttons you need:
Hampstead Heath Walk
Sunday 23rd April 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB:
Zoom Discussion
Monday 24th April 8-8.40pm:
Here are the Zoom details in case you need to join directly:
Zoom link HERE; Meeting ID: 754 5412 7574; Passcode: Achebe
This is a short (definitely not sweet) book - you still have time to buy and read a copy. Buy it from Daunt Books here and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
*** This newsletter will always be free for those who need it to be, but if you are able to help keep the show on the road / on the Heath, and support Emily’s Walking Book Club by paying a small annual subscription of £20/year, then please do. Alternatively, you can pay £50/year to include a bespoke literary consultation with me. Feel free to drop me a line for more info. ***
More on Things Fall Apart
I enjoyed listening to THIS EPISODE of the BBC World Book Club, in which Chinua Achebe talks to Harriet Gilbert about Things Fall Apart.
THIS NEW YORKER PIECE provides a thoughtful exploration of Achebe’s work in the context of African literature, taking into account thorny issues such as language and sterotypes. And HERE you can read Achebe’s essay (mentioned in the piece), ‘The African Writer and the English Language’.
Watch this fascinating 1964 interview with Achebe, conducted by Lewis Nkosi and Wole Soyinka:
Finally, here is John Agard reading Chinua Achebe’s very grim, powerful poem ‘Vultures’.
Looking ahead…
My technical skills were put to the test in creating this short announcing our next three books:
More info about May just below. If you would like more details about our June and July books and dates, you can find them in THIS PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER.
May: Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov translated by George Bird
Ukraine fundraiser: All money from ticket sales will go to the DEC humanitarian appeal
Lovely to see so many of you booking in for May already, with three chances to discuss this ingenius, darkly comic Ukrainian novel about a writer and his pet penguin in 1990s Kyiv.
#readwithukraine
Daunt Books Festival Walk
Friday 20th May, 10-11.30 am, setting off from Daunt Books Marylebone, 83-84 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW.
The Daunt Books Festival looks brilliant. Full details HERE. You might like to snap up one of the Festival Passes and enjoy the other events on Thursday and Friday. On the Friday alone, Matt Green is after me talking about his haunting history of Britain’s lost places, Shadowlands, and that evening features Nina Stibbe and ALI SMITH!!
Hampstead Heath Walk
Sunday 22nd May, 11.30-1pm, setting off from Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 South End Road, NW3 2QB:
Zoom Discussion
Monday 23rd May 8-8.40pm:
Buy Death and the Penguin from Daunt Books and receive 10% off using the code WBC at checkout, or just tell them you’re in the group if you’re buying it in the shop.
And finally… the exciting Monday news
I can’t believe this happened!
I’ve just recorded an episode of BACKLISTED!!
I know I’m not the only one of us who is a massive fan of this wonderful podcast which gives new life to old books. I almost fainted when Andy’s email popped up inviting me on to discuss Natalia Ginzburg’s strikingly unusual novel Family Lexicon, which I reviewed for the Guardian a while ago. What an honour! How absolutely terrifying! A week of Ginz-binge ensued, in which I periodically closed my ears to Easter-holiday fights over eating one more spoonful at tea / shrieks over turn-taking / splashes of bathtime to disappear into mid-twentieth-century Italy. Nerves and excitement built as I took over the husband’s home-office, borrowed proper headphones, and muffled the echoey window panes with towels and blankets. Said husband nobly removed the children for two hours - apparently they wandered around Kings Cross - while I had the great pleasure of chatting with the world’s most charming book nerds: hosts Andy Miller & John Mitchinson, producer Nicky Birch and Daunt Books publisher Marigold Atkey. What a thrill!
The episode is released this Monday. You can listen to it on the usual podcast channels, or on their website HERE. Let me know what you think! We will definitely do a Ginzburg walk before long…
Looking forward to seeing you this weekend. Happy reading,
Emily