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Control- Big Sean ft Kendrick Lamar & Jay Electronica

Novelist and short story writer Margaret Drabble discusses the ethics of portraiture, the public versus the private image, the defining of character in paint and prose, and the many faces of Doris Lessing.

This event was part of 'Portraits of Writers', a series of talks in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, to coincide with the exhibition 'On Paper: Portraits of Writers'.

Portraits Of Writers Royal Society Of Literature - Margret Drabble on Doris Lessing

THE HAWTHORNDEN LECTURE

In 1948, the novelist and poet Jack Kerouac coined the name 'Beat Generation' for an underground, anti-conformist youth movement in New York. In the decade that followed, works such as Kerouac's On the Road, Allen Ginsberg's Howl and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (the last two sparkling obscenity trials that ultimately revolutionised American publishing) formed a distinct 'Beat' literature. Iain Sinclair has been described by the Daily Telegraph as 'one of our most dazzling stylists', and American Smoke, published this month, completes the trilogy he began with Hackney: That Rose-Red Empire and continued with Ghost Milk. In a talk introduced by novelist and screenwriter Deborah Moggach, he conducts a memory interrogation, touching on the past meetings, lost archives, chance discoveries, volcano obsessions and fated decisions of the Beats.

We are grateful to the Hawthornden Charitable Trust for sponsoring this event.

Ian Sinclair on the Beats

THE TAGORE MEMORIAL MEETING

'Pakistan produces people of extraordinary bravery,' Nadeem Aslam has written, 'but no nation should ever require its citizens to be that brave.' His sentiment is shared by Kamila Shamsie, and the work of both novelists has focused on the human cost of conflict in their homeland. Nadeem Aslam was born in Pakistan, and experienced the devastation of General Zia's martial rule before his family fled to Huddersfield when he was 14. He has traced the plight of his compatriots from small-town Pakistan in 'Season of the Rainbirds' (1994), to the north of England in Maps for 'Lost Lovers' (2005), and back again in 'The Blind Man's Garden', published earlier this year. Kamila Shamsie grew up in Karachi, and many of her novels - 'In the City by the Sea', 'Salt and Saffron', 'Kartography' and 'Broken Verses' - have centred on struggles in her hometown. In a conversation chaired by essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra, Aslam and Shamsie discuss writing fiction, set in Pakistan and beyond, during the 'war on terror' years.

We are grateful to the Robert Gavron Charitable Trust for sponsoring this event.

The Pakistani novel today

Pemberley Titles

‘I am drawn to people who seem to have been born defeated,’ Penelope Fitzgerald once wrote. She considered herself one of these, and despite great early promise lived much of her life in drudgery and near destitution. Then, in her late 50s, she began to write. Over the next two decades, she not only published three biographies, but nine brief and brilliant novels, four of which were shortlisted for the Booker, Offshore winning it. At 80, Fitzgerald found fame both sides of the Atlantic. Chaired by Hermione Lee, whose widely acclaimed biography of Fitzgerald was published last autumn, and who will speak about her life, three writers celebrate one of the great writers of the 20th Century, and one of the most fascinating. Biographer and critic Susannah Clapp, who regularly edited Fitzgerald’s work at the LRB, considers her biography of the poet Charlotte Mew. Penelope Lively, who was a friend, talks about The Gate of Angels. Alan Hollinghurst looks at Offshore, a novel based on Fitzgerald’s experiences of living on a leaky houseboat on the Thames.

We are grateful to the Royal Literary Fund
for sponsoring this event.

On Penelope Fitzgerald

One hundred years after the outbreak of the Great War, Peter Parker introduces four writers, and the pieces of First World War literature that mean most to them. Poet and fiction writer Tobias Hill looks at Alain-Fournier’s Le Grand Meaulnes. The Irish poet Michael Longley, whose father was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during the First World War, reads from the poetry of Robert Graves, Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon and Edward Thomas, as well as his own war-inspired work. Timberlake Wertenbaker, whose most recent play, Our Ajax, looks at the trauma of modern warfare, explains how she was
marked by Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy. And Louisa Young, author of the bestselling First World War novel My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You, considers The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West.

Voices of the Great War

It's Peter Pan with attitude as Conn Iggulden, creator of the phenomenal bestseller The Dangerous Book for Boys, introduces an explosive and magical new fictional world. 

 "Tollins are not fairies. Though they both have wings, fairies are delicate creatures and much smaller.

Tollins are also a lot less fragile than fairies. In fact, the word 'fragile' can't really be used about them at all. They are about as fragile as a housebrick…"

In these three tales, Conn Iggulden introduces the explosive, magical and adventurous world of the Tollins, all beautifully illustrated in full colour by Lizzy Duncan. Complete with thrilling stories of danger and derring-do, glorious drawings, maps and diagrams, this is more than a fantastic fiction debut for children – it's also the definitive guide to these remarkable little flying creatures. Just don't ever call them fairies…

Buy 

Tollins: Explosive Tales for Children, By Conn Iggulden, Read by Conn Iggulden

Background and poem text: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/07/02/patti-smith-jack-kerouac-last-hotel/

DETAILS / POEM TEXT

Patti Smith reads Jack Kerouac's "The Last Hotel"

(AJ Hoge) Learning Languages Like Children - Effortless English

Background and context: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/09/10/mary-oliver-on-punctuation/

Recorded by the Lannan Foundation, 2001

TRANSCRIPT

Seven White Butterflies: Mary Oliver on punctuation

Interview by Luisa Cotardo conducted in 1995. Transcript and background: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/09/11/jeff-buckley-interview/

Recording courtesy of Luisa Cotardo (http://luisacotardo.tumblr.com) for Brain Pickings (http://www.brainpickings.org)

TRANSCRIPT / CONTEXT

Jeff Buckley on music and life

On Sigmund Freud's On Dreams (1902), a bit of The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), and the lecture, “Revision of the Theory of Dreams” (1933).

Are dreams just a bunch of random crap? Freud says, no, they're actually the first and best way to figure out the structure of the mind, which (surprise) involves the unconscious and how repressed, anti-social desires get (sort of) revealed to us, albeit smashed together through chains of association with what seems like random crap.

How can Freud support such a view? Is it science? What are its implications for our capacity to philosophize? Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan are here to sort of hint at telling you, but in a repressed sort of way. Read more about the topic and get the texts. Sign up to attend the Aftershow on Sun., 6/7, 3pm Eastern.

Go to blog

Freud on Dreams (Part 1)

On Thursday, March 3, 2016, the Ash Center hosted a conversation entitled "The Path to Denmark: How Do Societies Develop Control of Corruption?” with Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany as part of its Comparative Democracy Seminar Series. The event was moderated by Sultan of Oman Associate Professor of International Relations Tarek Masoud.

The Path to Denmark: How Do Societies Develop Control of Corruption? | AshCast

A Apple B for Boy - Children Education Song

IELTS Speaking Part 2 And Part 3 Festivals And Celebrations

Alan Judd discusses why is spy-writing is such a very British affair. Chaired by Simon Winder.

Nobody does it better: the British spy in fiction (Alan Judd)

Paul Tough, NYTimes best selling author, examines how to make kids more motivated, engaged, and productive in the classroom. 

Helping Children Succeed | Harvard Graduate School of Education

A little something I improvised on the piano. It's the sherlock theme as a ballad.

If the soundcloud download doesn't work, download it via a downloader from my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftIQtWnhn8U

BBC Sherlock Ballad

Piano Solos.

Keep me making free music...
Download at dexterbritain.bandcamp.com
License at www.dexterbritain.co.uk

Like me on Facebook.com/thedexterbritain
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All Too Close (Piano)

Background: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/08/07/the-histories-of-the-universe-patti-smith/

Patti Smith "The Histories of the Universe" (1975)

Creative Commons Volume. 5
Contemporary Classical soundtrack music.

Download at dexterbritain.bandcamp.com

www.dexterbritain.co.uk

Like me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thedexterbritain
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dexterbritain

Download / License

The Time To Run (Finale)

Lil Durk - 52 Bars (Part 2) - Shot By @AZaeProduction

Get 'Kaleidoscope Dream' today: http://smarturl.it/KD?IQid=soundcloud

“How Many Drinks Remix (feat. Kendrick Lamar)?”

Excerpt from Orwell's fantastic 1946 essay outlining his 11 "golden" rules of tea perfection: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/14/george-orwell-a-nice-cup-of-tea/

TRANSCRIPT / DETAILS

George Orwell on how to make the perfect cup of tea

Chief Keef
Macaroni Time
Prod. Dirty Vans & Vince Carter
Non-Album Single (2013)

Booking Info : 773-209-2866

Macaroni Time

Founded in 1820, the RSL acts as a voice for the value of literature, honouring and supporting emerging and established writers whilst creating a bridge between authors and audiences of all backgrounds and experiences to engage as many people as possible with the wealth of literature in the UK.

Nobody does it better: the British spy in fiction (Alan Judd)

Royal Society Literature