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Nottingham’s independent bookshop | 14a Long Row, Nottingham NG1 2DH | 0115 8373097

BS Johnson readings

Saturday, 23rd November, 2019    
All Day
Five Leaves Bookshop*
14a Long Row, Nottingham, NG1 2DH

The late BS Johnson was a writer of experimental fiction. His best known book was The Unfortunates. To celebrate fifty years since first publication the local theatre company Excavate has organised a reading tour of the city – www.excavate.org.uk.

The Unfortunates is a book in a box, with chapters printed as pamphlets that you can read in any order as long as you read the first chapter first and the last chapter last. There is no continuous narrative but the same characters appear throughout. The book is set in an unnamed city and starts “But I know this city!”. But we know the city is Nottingham and today’s event takes place all over the city where individuals and groups can wander round the readings in any order, taking in as many or as few as you like. At each venue individuals and groups will be read sections of the book, of between one and ten minutes, by volunteer readers (which includes BS Johnson’s biographer, Jonathan Coe, and us!).

This is an opportunity for you to “know this city” and take part in BS Johnson’s experimental world.