Future appearances

I’m going to be heading out of London for my next two talks about Rochester and Blazing Star, to the rather appropriate settings of Woodstock and Oxford. I’m delighted to be talking at the excellent Woodstock Bookshop on October 13th at 7pm. The venue has particular resonance as it’s just around the corner from where Rochester both lived and died, at Woodstock Lodge. Then I’m, in a manner of speaking, coming home when I visit one of my favourite bookshops anywhere, Blackwell’s Oxford, the following evening for what promises to be a suitably highbrow/lowbrow look at the Earl and his life at university.

Londoners who haven’t yet been to a talk yet, fear not – I’m also lining up a pre-Halloween talk at Daunt Books in Chelsea, which should be suitably highbrow. And then hopefully there’ll be more to come next year.

I’m also being interviewed on the Irish radio station Talking History on October 5th in the evening – further information to follow as and when.

And many thanks to anyone who’s come along to one of the talks so far, tweeted me or generally supported the book – it’s been a pleasure to meet so many of you and I look forward to meeting plenty more!

Bits and pieces…

A few (and I presume, final) reviews have appeared, including possibly my favourite piece about Rochester and his literary heritage at The Literateur and a brief but nice mention in the Independent’s biographies of the summer. I also wrote a piece for History Today commenting on an article that none other than John Redwood did in the 70s about Rochester. 

Don’t forget that I’m speaking at Hatchards in Piccadilly this Wednesday – tickets are free but should be booked in advance. As usual, I can promise some bawdy talk, near-the-knuckle jokes, and hopefully an engaging insight into Rochester’s life and milieu. And the best part is that it’s at lunchtime, so you’ve really got no excuse for not coming along.