Salon On Demand!

In 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!

Guest User18 August 2020Final Cut, Damian Barr, Damian Barr's Literary Salon, SJ Watson, YouTube, Salon On Demand

Edinburgh Book Festival Online 15th-31st August 2020

This year the Edinburgh International Book Festival will be curating a special online edition of the festival from 15th-31st August, enjoy events for adults and children for free. Through the magic of technology, they’ll be crossing continents and time zones to beam events from more than 30 countries straight into your home. There will also be digital chatrooms and Q&A sessions, and you'll even be able to meet the author and get your books signed (selected events).

You can catch Damian throughout the festival when he’ll be talking to Garth Greenwell, Douglas Stuart and Andrew O’Hagan.

Click HERE for more info on how to watch the events.

Damian Barr - Lancaster University Alumni

STEPS is the alumni magazine for Lancaster University and the latest issue features Damian. Click HERE to read the full article.

A conversation between Armistead Maupin and Damian Barr

To commemorate London Pride 2020, the British Library have released a conversation between Armistead Maupin and Damian Barr, recorded at the British Library Knowledge Centre on 10 February 2014. Maupin was touring the world promoting the final instalment of Tales of The City, which was entitled The Days of Anna Madrigal.

Salon 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.

GET TICKETS

Imagine Anthology podcast for World Refugee Day

Right now, there are, according to the UNHCR, at least 25.9million refugees in the world—the most ever recorded. Every single one of these people has a past and present. Every single one of these people deserves a future. Every single one of these people has a story and some of these feature in a bold new anthology called 'Imagine' and the Salon is sharing some of them in a special episode of our podcast.

The 'Imagine Anthology' is a publishing collaboration between Counterpoints Arts and Visual Editions as part of Refugee Week, featuring poems, stories and essays from diverse voices. Authors including Edmund du Waal, Himesh Patel, Dina Nayeri and Rupi Kaurand have been asked to explore one thing they would most like to change about humanity's future, to consider "making the invisible visible". Themes address global issues such as open borders, hunger, power and shame, as well as reflecting on how our everyday lives - Taekwondo, beekeeping or a front door key - have the potential to be life-changing. Each piece is distinct but collectively they show how we are united in difference.

On June 20th, Damian Barr's Literary Salon will be launching this very special podcast as part of World Refugee Day, you can listen at www.theliterarysalon.co.uk/podcast. You can also read the full anthology at www.imagineanthology.com.

How to celebrate Independent Bookshop Week

Damian Barr’s Literary Salon will be hosting a virtual bookshop tour during Independent Bookshop Week (20th-27th June) across all their social platforms, celebrating some of the best indies from across the UK.

Every day at 4pm Damian Barr will go live on Instagram with a different independent bookshop, getting a glance at their bookshelves, discussing their ethos, how they’ve coped with lockdown, their favourite books, and more literary loveliness.

Follow @damianbarrliterarysalon on Insta and keep an eye out at 4pm each day to join in.

Click HERE to read the full article about Independent bookshop Week.

Guest User17 June 2020Damian Barr, Damian Barr's Literary Salon, Independent Bookshop Week

Talking to Rose McGowan: What’s Next?

Damian Barr’s Literary Salon and Lit Hub have created a beautiful partnership to share wonderful literary content! This month Lit Hub have chosen to share Damian’s interview with activist, artist and writer, Rose McGowan.

Click HERE to discover more and listen to this exceptionally far-reaching and revealing interview.

Salon LIVE Online: Douglas Stuart with Damian Barr, June 26th

Salon LIVE Online: Douglas Stuart with Damian Barr

Join Douglas Stuart and Damian Barr for a trip to 1980s Glasgow and the world of Shuggie Bain.

Shuggie Bain is a little boy growing up in 1980s Glasgow. And his world is Agnes Bain, his glamorous, calamitous mother, drinking herself ever so slowly to death. Shuggie tries to save her and finds himself in a city that’s both bleak and dazzling. This novel will break your heart only to mend it again bigger and stronger and more generous. It’s the world I grew up in and wrote about in Maggie & Me but here it’s brought to life in fiction, albeit partly autobiographical. The New York Times Book Review said: "The book would be just about unbearable were it not for the author’s astonishing capacity for love. He’s lovely, Douglas Stuart, fierce and loving and lovely. He shows us lots of monstrous behaviour, but not a single monster―only damage. If he has a sharp eye for brokenness, he is even keener on the inextinguishable flicker of love that remains.” Douglas, born and brought up in Glasgow, now lives in New York. He was chosen as one of the Observer's 'best debut novelists' earlier this year and had his first story published in the New Yorker in January. 'Found Wanting' is about growing up queer before the internet and it is INCREDIBLE. I can’t wait to talk him about all of it!

Join Douglas Stuart and Damian Barr for a conversation online from 8-9pm (UK time). Tickets are £5 plus £0.98 booking fee. CLICK HERE to get tickets.

We look forward to you joining us.

"We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar."

This illustration was done by Barbara Kelley to accompany a quote of mine used by a columnist in The Wall Street Journal, “We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some of us are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar.’ My quote also popped up on Oprah’s podcast! Along with Dolly, Oprah is one of my icons. Here she is talking to Dr Alan Lightman about coronavirus and collective experience and consciousness. Storms and seas and boats and all that. Wow!

We’re bringing you another two episodes of Shelf Isolation!

Damian is joined by Alan Cumming and also by Kirsty Wark as they recommend what to binge, read and enjoy as lockdown rolls on. Catch them and all our previous episodes on BBC Scotland and on iPlayer.

Amy Very19 May 2020Shelf Isolation, BBC iPlayer, BBC Scotland, Damian Barr

Damian shortlisted for Indie Book Awards 2020

I am delighted to join the other shortlisted writers on this list. Indie Bookshops are, along with libraries, a real refuge and to get recognition from booksellers means so very much to me.

AwardsAmy Very15 May 2020IBW, INDIEBOOKWEEK, Indie Book Awards, Shortlist, Damian Barr

SHELF ISOLATION - A new series for BBC Scotland produced by IWC and presented by Damian Barr.

You can catch episodes 1 and 2 on BBC iPlayer now.

The books, films and music we love say so much about us – every time we pick up a novel or sit down to another box set we add another chapter to the story of ourselves. And they give us the chance to forget about the world around us and disappear somewhere else, if only for a while. Right now we can’t leave home but we can still travel and meet new people and have new experiences in books, tv and film.

Shelf IsolationAmy Very12 May 2020Shelf Isolation, Denise Mina., Greg Hemphill, Mark Bonnar

Kim Hill talks to Damian on RNZ

An honour to be interviewed by the legendary Kim Hill who brings her particular wit and years of wisdom to every encounter. I will happily admit I was nervous before this and excited--all I really wanted to do was listen to her. In the we had a generous and rigorous conversation. Thank you Kim and thank you for listening.

Click here to listen to the full interview.

Guest User9 May 2020Kim Hill, Damian Barr, You Will Be Safe Here, RNZ

Salon LIVE Online: Garth Greenwell and Damian Barr, May 15th 9pm

Salon LIVE Online: Garth Greenwell and Damian Barr talk writing, queerness and 'Cleanness'. May 15th 9-10pm (UK Time).
GET TICKETS

Garth charmed us all at our Salon at the Savoy in 2016 with his debut novel What Belongs to You. He reads his prose as beautifully as he writes it. His next book, Cleanness, places its arms around the shoulders of his handsome sensuous debut and confronts many of the same themes and concerns, yet is very much its own thing.

Maggie O'Farrell and Damian Barr in conversation for The Big Book Weekend

Maggie O'Farrell and Damian will be in conversation as part of The Big Book Weekend; a three-day virtual festival that brings together the best of the cancelled British literary festivals.

You can watch Damian and Maggie and take part in the live Q&A at 10am on Friday 8th May.

The full festival programme has been announced today. There are sessions planned for both adults and children, the event has been co-founded by the authors Kit de Waal and Molly Flatt, is supported by BBC Arts and will be hosted by MyVLF.

Click here to read the full programme.

Guest User25 April 2020Maggie O'Farrell, Damian Barr, The Big Book Weekend, MyVLF, Kit de Waal, Molly Flatt, BBC Arts

Stories of Splendid Isolation

Stories of Splendid Isolation creates moments of literary respite in the wake of Covid-19. I’m delighted to have added some of my thoughts alongside Olivia Sudjic, Joe Dunthorne and others. You can listen by activating Google Assistant - listeners can hear writers from around the world share their reflections during a time of uncertainty, like a literary version of Thought for the Day.

Amy Very22 April 2020

SHELF ISOLATION - A new series for BBC Scotland produced by IWC and presented by Damian Barr.

The books, films and music we love say so much about us – every time we pick up a novel or sit down to another box set we add another chapter to the story of ourselves. And they give us the chance to forget about the world around us and disappear somewhere else, if only for a while. Right now we can’t leave home but we can still travel and meet new people and have new experiences in books, tv and film.

Damian Barr: You don’t need to come out of this crisis with a six pack and crafting skills

I've been overwhelmed by the response to this piece that I wrote for the i newspaper.

Thank you for sharing your stories and coping strategies. Let's support each other hour by hour, day by day.

The Inspiration Behind You Will Be Safe Here

Many of you have got in touch about my way into writing this novel - I never intended to write this novel.

I had my heartbroken with the story of a murder of a boy - who looked like a long lost friend of mine. That boy was Raymond Buys, he was 15 when he was killed at Echo Wild Game Rangers camp in South Africa. I wrote about the contemporary history, The Boer War and the growing right wing power now.

GET TICKETS

You can catch episodes 1 and 2 on BBC iPlayer now.

Most Images Credited to Daisy Honeybunn

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