Damian Barr's Literary Salon

As a teenager I fantasised about becoming Dr Barr but work experience in a hospital put me off, undoubtedly saving lives, mine included. Adam Kay was born into a family of medics and felt he had no choice but to don a white coat. Nothing could prepare him for the joys and horrors of being a junior doctor. His Secret Diaries have sold to over 25 countries, held the top of the bestseller charts for...

Tracey Thorn returns to the Salon for the world premiere of her new memoir: Another Planet. Brooksmans Park is only 14 miles north of Kings Cross but might as well be Another Planet. Here people aspired to ‘a better class of bungalow’. Tracey returns to the scene of her 1970s childhood where ‘life was slow and very little happened, over and over again’ as her diary records. Turning on a beautifull...

Flashback to earlier this month when our Salonnière hosted the Man Booker shortlist showcase at the South Bank Centre, the one and only event to feature readings from all six shortlisted authors - Anna Burns (Milkman), Esi Edugyan (Washington Black), Daisy Johnson (Everything Under), Rachel Kushner (The Mars Room), Richard Powers (The Overstory) and Robin Robertson (The Long Take. Learn more about...

We are delighted to share this EXCLUSIVE reading from the brilliant Rachael Brown, the creator, investigator, and host of international award-winning #1 podcast,Trace, examining the 1980 murder of Maria James. Rachael reads to us from her new book of the same name, exploring her efforts to unmask Maria’s killer, and revealing the shocking new factors she uncovered along the way... Learn more about...

This intimate discussion made headlines around the world as Sturgeon revealed she's writing a diary which she may publish. In an intimate conversation with Damian Barr she reveals the books that shaped her as a person and a politician, from Lewis Grassic Gibbon's 'Sunset Song' to 'The Colour Purple' by Alice Walker, and recommends some reading for President Trump. Recorded live at Wigtown Book Fes...

To mark the release of his latest novel 'Katerina', New York Times bestselling author James Frey reads this extract specially for Damian Barr's Literary Salon. Katerina, the explosive new novel by one of America’s most controversial writers, is a sweeping love story alternating between 1992 Paris and Los Angeles in 2018, taking in love, sex, dreams, art, drugs and the madness of youth. Please note...

Join us for the WORLD PREMIERE of Take Nothing With You, the new novel from Patrick Gale. We’re delighted he’s back to unveil his sixteenth novel at the Salon! Comedy and tragedy collide as fifty-something Eustace, a Londoner of leisure, falls hopelessly in love with a man he’s yet to meet in the flesh and discovers that he has cancer. In the same week. While receiving treatment, Eustace listens e...

Join us for the WORLD PREMIERE of Melmoth, the new novel from Sarah Perry. For centuries, the mysterious dark-robed figure of Melmoth the Witness has wandered the globe, seeking those whose complicity have led humanity to its darkest moments. Helen Franklin comes across this legend while working as a literary translator in present day Prague. She’s quick to dismiss it as superstition but soon begi...

To celebrate the paperback release of his brilliant debut novel 'The Last Romeo', Justin Myers reads this extract specially for Damian Barr's Literary Salon. Social media sensation and author of dating blog The Guyliner, Justin Myers now brings his razor-sharp and cringingly candid style to this account of one man's quest for The One. The story follows 34 year old James, whose six-year relationshi...

Here is Professor Mary Beard reading from her manifesto Women & Power and from the new book to accompany Civilisations. We talk about ways of seeing, the shock of the new (and the nude) and sex with statues. Yes, sex with statues. And about NOT SHUTTING UP! Not entirely safe for work this but entirely brilliant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BEHOLD! The glorious Natalie Haynes, host of Radio 4's Stand Up For The Classic, PREMIERES her new novel a WHOLE YEAR ahead of publication! 'A Thousand Ships' is her retelling of well, all that Helen and her beauty and the Trojans and their horse stuff. We guarantee it will leave you shouting YOU CANNOT HAVE MY OWL! Listen and enjoy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lulah Ellender reads exclusively from her new book 'Elisabeth's Lists', a vivid memoir and a moving study of the familial threads that bind us. Lulah never knew her grandmother Elisabeth, but after she was handed a hardback journal full of handwritten lists her curiosity grew and along with her diaries, Lulah pieced together who this woman truly was. Shopping lists, items to be packed for trips ab...

The beloved and side splittingly hilarious Matt Lucas joined Damian in conversation at Cheltenham Literature Festival 2017. The star of Little Britain and Doctor Who shared tales from his autobiography 'Little Me: My Life from A-Z'. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The bold and brilliant Juno Dawson gives the world premiere reading of her ground-breaking memoir The Gender Games, discussing the problems with men and women, from someone who has been both. Part of a special fundraising Salon for the brilliant Little Green Pig, a writing and mentoring charity for young people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Multi award-winning rock and pop critic and writer Alexis Petridis joins us for Story of My Life, in which he shares his love of The Diaries of Adrian Mole. Alexis also gives us a sneak insight into what it’s like to ghost-write Elton John’s memoir! Part of a special fundraising Salon for the brilliant Little Green Pig, a writing and mentoring charity for young people. Learn more about your ad cho...

We’re still shaking two years after reading The Loney – Andrew Michael Hurley’s truly terrifying debut.  His second novel, Devil’s Day, promises to be just as dark.  Again he’s exploring the spare landscape of the northwest.   Very little changes in the Endlands.  Every autumn, John Pentecost returns to the farm where he grew up to help gather the sheep down from the moors for the winter.  Each ye...

Making a very rare appearance in the UK, Richard Russo talks secrets and lies (and Trump) in small-town America with Damian Barr at the Savoy Hotel in London. And unexpected and detailed discussion about underwear. Just delightful! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just days before the General Election, Spectator Literary Editor and Rhetoric expert, Sam Leith joined Damian Barr at the Savoy Hotel in London to sort the strong and stable from the weak and wobbly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Natalie Haynes talks about her gripping contemporary take on perhaps the most messed up family in Ancient Greece with Damian Barr at the Savoy Hotel in London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Damian ranges from revolution to revelation, from activism to confession in a candid conversation with a simple country parson who also happens to have been one of the Communards. Reverend Richard Coles is presenter of Radio 4’s Saturday Live, parent of various dachshunds and author of the hit memoirs 'Fathomless Riches' and 'Bringing in the Sheaves'. Recorded live in the Lancaster Ballroom at the...

The Christadora is a 'very plain handsome boxy brick building' in New York’s East Village. This building, the families within, tell the story of the city from the 1980s to the 2020s. From soaring crime to soaring house prices, from Reagan to Bush to Clinton to Bush again and then Obama, from the Plague to Lazarus Syndrome. Damian talks to activist, journalist and author of 'Christadora': Tim Murph...

100 years tonight - this very night - the Russian Army sided with the Bolsheviks, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and the Russian Empire fell. Shortly after, Count Alexander Illyich Rostov - recipient of the order of Saint Andrew, member of the jockey club, master of the hunt and sometime poet – was condemned to a life under house arrest in the famously luxe Hotel Metropol. Damian talks revolution, roo...

Lionel joined Damian and Rebecca Palmer from Corney & Barrow for A Book and a Bottle Salon at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Forget cheese and wine--we're pairing novels and bottles! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew O'Hagan gives an exclusive first reading of his as-yet-unfinished novel 'Caledonian Road' as part of our 8th birthday celebrations at the Savoy Hotel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Psychotherapist and writer Philippa Perry reads from her new untitled book and talk to Damian about parenting and the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices