Damian will be returning to Edinburgh International Book Festival this year for two events! You can see him on 18th August at 12pm-1pm alongside Catherine Taylor and again on the same day at 8.30pm-10pm when he will be hosting a Literary Salon, guests will include Monica Heisey, and more guests to be announced soon.
Tickets will be available from 29th June, click HERE to buy yours!
Read MoreDamian Barr’s Literary Salon returns to The London Library on Thursday May 25th, with Monica Heisey and a world premiere from Jenni Fagan. Hosted by Damian Barr.
The Salon is back in person and online for our first Salon of 2023! With two bold and brilliant writers.
Every story starts with a writer alchemising their own experience. Whether it’s a memoir or epic fiction, the truth of the writer is in there somewhere. Join us as we explore two equally superb, but wildly different, books where the writer uses their own story to powerful effect.
Join us on the 21st November for an in-person and online Salon at The British Library, as we celebrate Marple: Twelve New Stories, a brand-new collection of original tales penned by some of the world’s most acclaimed and bestselling female writers. Each story takes inspiration from Agatha Christie’s classic originals to feature a new mystery for Miss Marple to solve. As ever, she knows more than she appears to.
Damian Barr will be joined by contributing authors Lucy Foley and Kate Mosse, as well as Agatha Christie’s great grandson and CEO and Chairman of Agatha Christie Ltd, James Prichard. The evening will feature exclusive readings, expert insights, and special appearances from Marple super-fans, celebrating the incomparable, enigmatic spirt of Jane Marple and her legendary creator Agatha Christie.
Tickets start at £10 for the in-person event (concessions are available) and £5 online. A ticket and book bundle will also be available and books will be on sale on the night. The box office and bar open at 6.30pm and the Salon will start at 7pm. Lucy Foley and Kate Mosse will also be signing books after the event.
The British Library is the national library of the UK, collecting an unparalleled archive of books, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, sounds and even websites. It’s collection of over 170 million items span both the momentous and the everyday, from Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, Jane Austen’s early writings, and Benjamin Zephaniah’s handwritten poetry to rare sacred texts, feminist literature and the UK’s earliest newspapers. The Library shares these collections with thousands of people every day, helping to inspire the next great idea or moment of joyful discovery.
See you there!
Welcome to our Book of the Week podcast! Every week, our team of editors and readers brings you a special reading from a new book that we've fallen in love with and that we think you'll love too. Visit our podcast on your favourite platform for a short reading and a recommendation from Damian. Your TBR is already teetering but there always room for one more, right?
Our Book of the Week podcast replaces Salon Exclusives--why? Well, there are just too many brilliant new books to share and we really don't want you to miss out. We launched Book of the Week with a world-first reading from the Marriage Portrait, Maggie O'Farrell's new novel. And we've got a lot more coming up! You can still listen to all our past episodes on our podcast and share with your pals. Thanks for listening!
Book of the Week is programmed by Matt Casbourne (matt@literary-salon.co.uk) and produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman (megan@literary-salon.co.uk) for Damian Barr's Literary Salon.
We started SEs in March 2019! Past titles have included The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, The Prophets and Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies which went on to win the Desmond Elliott Prize 2022. If you’d like to suggest a book for BOTW from Jan ‘23 onwards please email matt@literary-salon.co.uk.
Read MoreTICKETS NOW ON SALE!
Join Damian on the 13th September for an in-person and online Salon at the British Library, as the Literary Salon launches Marple: Twelve New Stories, a brand-new collection of original tales penned by some of the world’s most acclaimed and bestselling female writers. Each story takes inspiration from Agatha Christie’s classic originals to feature a new mystery for Miss Marple to solve. As ever, she knows more than she appears to.
Damian Barr will be joined by contributing authors Lucy Foley and Kate Mosse, as well as historian, presenter and Christie biographer Lucy Worsley. The evening will feature exclusive readings, expert insights, and special appearances from Marple super-fans, celebrating the incomparable, enigmatic spirt of Jane Marple and her legendary creator Agatha Christie.
Tickets start at £10 for the in-person event (concessions are available) and £5 online. A ticket and book bundle will also be available and books will be on sale on the night. The box office and bar open at 6pm, theatre doors at 6.45pm and the Salon will start at 7pm. Lucy Foley, Kate Mosse and Lucy Worsley will also be signing books after the event.
See you there!
Abi Morgan is the BAFTA and Emmy-winning playwright and screenwriter who created the BBC's rave series The Split, The Iron Lady, Suffragette, The Hour and much more. She's just published the incredible This Is Not A Pity Memoir, and we were thrilled to have the world premiere at the Salon recently.
Poignant and heart-breaking but resolutely unwilling to rely on sentimental platitudes, Abi's memoir is a profoundly powerful and perceptive read on love, grief and the eternal promise of hope.
Listen HERE!
Read MoreKit and Abi two of our most thrilling writers unveil their memoirs at a very special Salon.
Kit is the award-winning and bestselling author of My Name Is Leon and edited the pioneering collection Common People. Without Warning & Only Sometimes: Scenes from an Unpredictable Childhood is her story of growing up in a household of opposites and extremes. Her haphazard mother was a devout Jehovah’s Witness who believed the world would end in 1975. Her father was the opposite. Kit was caught between three worlds: Irish, Caribbean and British in 1960s Birmingham. It’s funny, honest and as compelling as her fiction.
Abi Morgan is the BAFTA and Emmy-winning playwright who created The Iron Lady, Suffragette and The Hour. She shifts from screen to page for This Is Not A Pity Memoir. From the very first page it is intimate and within five pages I was falling in love with her and her husband Jacob: ‘This is the man I love, the man I have known for nearly twenty years. The man who have fought with and laughed with and loved with. The man who is never going to be the same again.’
Tickets will be available to newsletter subscribers at 9am on 23rd March and to the general public at 12pm. Prices start at £15 plus booking fee. Doors and bar open at 6.30pm and the Salon will start at 7.30pm and finish at 9pm.
Join us for this very special Salon all about memoir. And it’s the world premiere for both books! See you there.
I’m excited to announce that Douglas Stuart will be joining me in Brighton on the 22nd April for the last date of his book tour, celebrating his new novel, Young Mungo! You can buy tickets HERE for this in person event at Ironworks Studios.
Doors and bar open 6.30pm (bar will be open after the event too). Douglas will be signing after the event.
Shuggie Bain broke our hearts and publishing records, winning the Booker Prize and launching Douglas Stuart. We’re proud to say we premiered Shuggie Bain at a special online Salon in June 2020 and we’re delighted to continue the conversation with the much-anticipated Young Mungo.
Young Mungo is the story of two boys, two tribes and two Scotlands. Catholic James and Protestant Mungo live in the violent, macho world of Glasgow’s council schemes. Gangs brawl along sectarian lines and life is divided. But love will always find a way. And so, James and Mungo find each other. Mungo and James dream of escaping the gangs and the grey, fractured city. Will their dream come true?
This is the Scotland Douglas Stuart grew up in. It’s also where and when Damian grew up, with a Catholic mother and Protestant father – his family as divided as the community around them. So, he can’t wait to sit down with Douglas and talk about that place and time, divided loyalties, the unintended consequences of ‘love’ and the lives of boys like James and Mungo. You will love them, and Young Mungo, just as much as you loved Shuggie Bain. And you’ll carry them in your heart forever after.
Arrive early to find your seat (seats are not allocated beforehand) and enjoy a drink in the colourful and relaxing bar area. Ironworks Studios is a brand new event and performance space in the heart of Brighton’s North Laine. Find out more here.
Read MoreWe could have talked all night…
What an absolute belter of an evening! An Audience with Marian Keyes was honest, heartfelt, hilarious - it’s got to be one of our favourite ever #litsalon events.
Thank you so much Alex Clark for such an intimate and insightful interview, to our celebrity guests Lisa Jewell, Sara Cox, Anton Du Beke, Nadiya Hussain and Emma Freud for their brilliant questions, to our impressive (and terrifyingly competitive) quiz contestants Roisin Ingle, Daisy Buchanan and Paul Dunphy, to Jamie Oliver for the fabulous location, and of course the most marvellous Marian Keyes - thank you for the words, the wisdom and the wit!
If you missed it, don’t fret, you can now watch on Salon On Demand! Click here to get your ticket.
Read More#RACHELSBACK! Celebrate the return of Rachel with Marian Keyes and Special Guests at Damian Barr’s Literary Salon on Wednesday 16th February! Tickets are available here.
The phenomenal, multi-million-copy, internationally bestselling author Marian Keyes returns for an exclusive digital Literary Salon to reveal one of the most anticipated books of 2022: ‘Again, Rachel’.
This long-awaited sequel is Marian’s fifteenth novel. Her books have rightly become beloved world-wide for their heartwarming combination of wit, love and fearless honesty depicted through down-to-earth characters we feel we know. 'Rachel’s Holiday', in which Rachel Walsh debuted 25 years ago, is regarded by many fans as their favourite. Since then, readers have been dying to know just what happened to Rachel, and some fella named Luke Costello…
As well as her new novel, Marian will be chatting about her own writing journey and craft, where she draws her inspiration from, and how she brings humour to some of today’s most important contemporary issues.
Damian Barr will be your host for this very special Salon conjuring a fabliss evening for you all! Expect Very Special Guests and plenty of fun and games. The brilliant broadcaster, journalist and Marian-superfan, Alex Clark will be interviewing Marian. Alex, often heard on BBC R4’s such Front Row and Open Book, was a judge for the (then) Man Booker Prize - expect a gripping and gorgeous conversation! And you’ll have the chance to get your questions answered by Marian!
The Salon runs online from 7-8.30pm. We have various ticket options including an extra special book-and-ticket bundle, which gives you the chance to get your hands on a copy before the Salon and before it even hits the shelves! This is one FABLISS evening for every true fan whoever and wherever you are.
If you can’t join us live on the night, don’t fret, as you'll also be able to watch the Salon back whenever you want afterwards. It’ll be just as much fun! We really look forward to you joining us.
For every ‘book and ticket’ package sold we will offer a free online ticket so that someone who would not otherwise be able to enjoy the event get’s to join in. And, as with all online salons, this evening will be streamed free to any library that wants to take part - just email libraries@literary-salon.co.uk for details.
Read MoreLast week Miriam Margolyes and Mohsin Zaidi charmed our audiences both at The London Library and online! We laughed, we cried, we felt everything!
If you missed it NEVER FEAR as it's available to watch now with Salon-On-Demand. For just £5 get yourself lifetime access to the event everyone's been talking about, or give it as a unique festive gift!
Due to the rapidly changing Covid situation, we’re taking extra steps to keep everyone safe at our Salon on Dec 2nd at london Library. And we need your help. Please pay attention to the updated information below. Do get in touch if you have any questions or if your situation has changed and you’d like a refund.
Here are the measures we're taking to keep you as safe as possible and information about what you can do to help us protect everyone on the night.
Most important: Please take a lateral flow test on Wednesday or Thursday and present proof of a negative result on arrival.
Please wear a mask on arrival or have proof of exemption. We will have disposable masks, should you need one.
As much as we’d LOVE to see your smiles, please wear a mask during the event and when moving around the room.
All our staff will be masked and tested on the day.
We’ve reduced capacity to give everyone in the room as much personal space as possible, but we are not able to put 2 metres between each seat.
We will have a bar area and we will be serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Please return to your seat with your drink and/or do your best to socially distance near the bar.
Windows will be open for ventilation but the Library has good heating so you’ll still be cosy! If you’d like to keep your coat with you, please do.
Please socially distance where possible and make use of the hand washing facilities and sanitizer stations.
Finally, please stay safe and comfortable at home if you have tested positive for coronavirus or have symptoms of illness, including a cough, sore throat, runny nose or fever. As ever, we reserve the right to refuse entry. We want everyone to feel safe and comfortable so they can enjoy the Salon and sharing stories. If, for any reason, you feel unable to attend in person we will gladly refund your ticket and hope you can join us online.
Thank you for all your help and support!
www.theliterarysalon.co.uk/latest/covid-safety-at-salon
Read MoreDamian Barr’s Literary Salon is back IN PERSON and ONLINE! Miriam Margolyes, Alan Cumming, sleeping with books and much, much more! Yes, it’s our Autumn season! AND, because we love libraries so much, we’re offering complimentary online access to our December Salon to every library in the UK!
Read MoreJoin us online as we celebrate the launch of Kate Mosse’s touching memoir An Extra Pair of Hands.
This heart-warming book shines a light on the joys and challenges of being a carer and shows how even the smallest act of caregiving is one of the greatest acts of love. Kate will be interviewed by journalist, broadcaster and editor Sam Baker.
An Extra Pair of Hands sees Kate shift focus from historical fiction to personal history. Here she tells her own story - of finding herself as a carer in middle age: first, helping her heroic mother care for her beloved father through Parkinson's, then supporting her mother in widowhood, and finally as ‘an extra pair of hands’ for her 90-year-old mother-in-law. If you follow Kate on Twitter, you’ll already know beloved Granny Rosie, who has become a social media sensation in her own right!
Read MoreJoin us online as we celebrate the long-awaited debut from Paris Lees!
What It Feels Like For A Girl stars fabulous teenager Byron, determined to escape a dreary Notts town and the dreary people in it. Paris will be interviewed by writer & broadcaster Alexandra Heminsley.
Read MoreJoin us next week for a special evening with acclaimed architect and designer David Rockwell. From designing the Oscars stage to beautiful theatres, from creating cultural buildings to sets for iconic productions Hairspray and The Normal Heart, David’s work is ALL about stories and drama, and we can’t wait to explore it with him in celebration of his new book Drama.
Join David and Damian online from 8pm-9pm (UK time) on Thursday 22nd April. NO NEED TO BUY A TICKET - THIS SPECIAL SALON IS OPEN TO ALL!
Read MoreI *loved* doing the voiceover for this film about Donald Windham and Sandy Campbell--the pioneering couple behind the world's most generous literary prizes: $165,000 each! I have supported the prizes since their launch 10 years ago and it’s a pleasure to watch them, and the writers they support, continue to flourish.
Click HERE to watch the video.
Read MoreJoin Damian, as he talks stories and design with David Rockwell, for the launch of Drama!
Acclaimed American architect and designer David Rockwell applies his love for narrative and performance to frame and enhance his built work including the Equinox Hotel and Hayes Theater in New York, and iconic productions Hairspray and The Normal Heart.
Read MoreIn VERY exciting news you can now watch full Salon interviews, including the Q&A, with Salon On Demand! Don’t worry if you missed it live, you can still buy a ticket and access a special private YouTube film of the event. Now you can pause mid-thought to put the kettle on or fix yourself another cocktail. For just £5 you can watch anywhere, anytime, as many times as you like.
In our first Salon on Demand, Damian interviews SJ Watson, author of the global smash Before I Go To Sleep, about his dark new novel Final Cut. They also talk about breaking into publishing, being a working-class writer and how to plot a thriller.
SJ's jumpy new story is all about time and memory - how and what we remember and how and what we try to forget. It follows ambitious young documentary filmmaker Alex who wants to document life in a small village and finds herself mysteriously drawn to Blackwood Bay. Once prosperous it’s now run-down, and behind the faded facades there are more secrets than Alex could ever hope to find… Nothing exciting ever happens in Blackwood Bay – or does it?
It's a joy to have SJ back at the Salon as he continues pushing the boundaries of the genre he’s celebrated for reinvigorating.
Salon On Demand tickets are just £5 and available here. Enjoy!
Read MoreSalon LIVE Online: SJ Watson with Damian Barr
Thriller time! And another world premiere! Damian Barr interviews SJ Watson, author of Before I Go To Sleep, about his dark new novel Final Cut.
This jumpy new thriller is all about time and memory - how and what we remember and how and what we try to forget. Flitting between Now and Then, the story follows an ambitious young documentary filmmaker who’s struggling to live up to the promise of her first hit. She gets the idea of making a film about life in a small, northern village and finds herself mysteriously drawn to a town called Blackwood Bay. Once gilded and busy it’s now run-down and ghostly and behind the faded facades there are more secrets than our filmmaker could ever have hoped to find… Nothing exciting ever happens in Blackwood Bay – or does it?
We’re delighted that SJ Watson is returning to the Salon for another world premiere, as he continues pushing the boundaries of the genre he’s celebrated for reinvigorating. Here he returns to his favourite themes: memory and identity.
Join SJ Watson and Damian Barr for a thrilling conversation online, Friday 7th August from 8 to 9pm (UK time).
This event will happen via online video platform but only SJ & Damian will be visible and audible and the audience will remain entirely anonymous (so you can wear what you like!).
Tickets are £5 and every ticket bought enters you for the chance to win a copy of Final Cut. Damian will announce the winner at the end of the event.
We look forward to you joining us.
