When: Monday, 1. February 2010 7pm
Where: London, Kings Place, 90 York Way, N1 9AG
Host: English PEN, in association with Kings Place
Contact: (020 7520 1490)
More info: www.englishpen.org/events/penevents/balloondebate/, www.kingsplace.co.uk
A (metaphorical) hot air balloon is dipping dangerously over Croydon. In it are four of our greatest writers – but only one can survive. As the balloon loses height, the audience votes on which author must go, until only one remains.
Al Alvarez is an acclaimed English poet, writer and critic. From 1956 to 1966, he was the poetry editor and critic
for The Observer, where he introduced British readers to John Berryman, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Zbigniew Herbert, and Miroslav Holub. His landmark 1962 poetry anthology The New Poetry was hailed at the time as a fresh departure. He is best known for his study of suicide, The Savage God, which gained added resonance from his friendship with Sylvia Plath. But he has also written on divorce (Life After Marriage), dreams (Night), and the oil industry (Offshore), as well as his hobbies of poker (The Biggest Game In Town) and mountaineering (Feeding the Rat, a profile of his frequent climbing partner Mo Anthoine). His 1999 autobiography is entitled Where Did It All Go Right?
Deborah Moggach has written a number of novels including Hot Water Man (1982), set in Karachi;
The Stand-In (1991), a thriller; and historical novels Tulip Fever (1999) and In the Dark (2007). She is also the author of two collections of short stories: Smile and other stories (1987); and Changing Babies and other stories (1995); and a stage play, Double Take. Her novels Final Demand (2001) and These Foolish Things (2004) have become television dramas, and she has also written television adaptations of Love in a Cold Climate and of Anne Fine’s Goggle-Eyes. She also wrote the filmscript for Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley. Her latest work is an adaptation of The Diary of Ann Frank for BBC 1, which screened in early 2009.
Rowan Pelling is a journalist and broadcaster. She has worked for a number of publications including Private Eye and GQ, achieving note as the editor, or “editrice” of the Erotic Review magazine, Britain’s only literary sex
journal. Co-author of The Decadent Handbook, she was a judge of the 2004 Man Booker Prize and now writes a comment column for The Daily Telegraph and a sex column for The Daily Mail.
Born in 1969, Hardeep Singh Kohli grew up in Scotland where, whilst studying at law school, he worked at the Citizen’s Theatre and managed various restaurants in Glasgow. He began working for the BBC at Radio Scotland
and has since worked in virtually every department. He has written a variety of short films, screenplays and comedies and written and directed for BBC drama, ITV drama and Channel 4’s Comedy Lab. His one-off documentary, In Search of the Tartan Turban for Channel 4 was nominated for an RTS and won a BAFTA. He is a regular guest on broadcaster on Newsnight Review and Front Row.
Tickets: £9.50 online £11.50 offline
How to book: Call 020 7520 1490 or book online at www.kingsplace.co.uk
