Author of Ghosting and the award-winning novel, London Triptych, Jonathan Kemp will be a guest at the Late Night Library club in conversation with Alan Hollinghurst.
The fourth edition of Late Night Library Club celebrates The Line of Beauty.
Part of their Queer Stories in Britain series, to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality (The Sexual Offences Act).
Celebrate and explore the world of Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker Prize-winning novel The Line of Beauty, as Late Night Library Club goes back to the 1980s. Follow the path of the book’s central character, naïve London newcomer Nick Guest, as he navigates an unfamiliar world of cottages and cocaine, academia and AIDS, and rubs shoulders (and more) with rent boys and MPs.
The evening kicks off with an optional hour-long walking tour around and about the event venue Sutton House, a National Trust Tudor landmark, curated by Queer Tours of London and starting at 5.30pm. They will draw out Hackney’s queer stories amongst the house’s many cracks and noonies.
The main event follows at 7pm in the atmospheric Sutton House. Try your hand – we said hand – at Starkers Life Drawing, participate in a photoshoot with Damien Frost for Ogee, the magazine established by Nick and his friends, and enjoy poetry and performance from Richard Scott, Ted Rogers, Lord Hicks and a very special guest.
‘From the start I’ve tried to write about gay life from a gay perspective … unapologetically and naturally’. In conversation with author Jonathan Kemp, Alan Hollinghurst will discuss the writing and reception of The Line of Beauty, his memories of its 1980s setting, what it means and historically has meant to be ‘a gay writer’, and reveal some details of his latest book, The Sparsholt Affair. Gay’s the Word will be selling copies of The Sparsholt Affair and Alan will conduct a book signing earlier on in the evening.
One of the most memorable set-pieces of The Line of Beauty is the high-society soirée of the Fedden’s anniversary which Nick and his friends gatecrash. 1986 may be long gone, but tonight’s event will culminate in a re-staging the glitziest party of yesteryear. The fashions are Tory Glam, and there are some veryhigh-powered guests in attendance…
Dressing up is strongly encouraged.
Age 18+
Tickets start at £16
+ Queer walking tour** combined ticket (starts around 5pm TBC, running time 60mins) *Limited spaces
Queer walking tour only £10
All tickets and more info here