A post from Shady Characters

Shady Characters at Adelaide Writers’ Week!

I’m happy to announce that I’m going to be taking part in Adelaide Writers’ Week 2017, running from Saturday 4th March to Thursday 9th March.

First, on Monday 6th March I’ll be appearing with Alberto Manguel in “Books & Reading” to discuss writing, reading, and the intersection of the two in the form of the book. Here’s how the festival programme describes it:

There are few things more enjoyable than reading books about books and reading. This session brings together one of the great writers about reading, Alberto Manguel, with one of the great writers about book history, Keith Houston. It will be a celebration of the object that perhaps most defines our lives and can define the way we live, as both an object and an idea.

Gulp.

Then, on Tuesday 7th March, I’ll be chatting with Michael Williams about The Book. We have a full hour to luxuriate in book history, and it promises to be a lot of fun. You can learn more about both events and book tickets at the festival’s website.

It’ll be my first time in Australia for a good number of years (and my first visit to Adelaide itself), and I am very much looking forward to it. Moreover, I’ll be in and around the Adelaide Festival all week — if any Shady Characters readers are planning to be in or near the festival, do drop me a line via the Contact page or Twitter if you’d like to meet up!


As a bonus, an interview I did with Kara Miller of WGBH’s Innovation Hub last year has just been posted online. It was fun to record — it covers some of the same ground I expect to be talking about in Adelaide, and has insight and wit aplenty from Kara herself. Listen to it here!

4 comments on “Shady Characters at Adelaide Writers’ Week!

  1. Comment posted by Gordon Brandly on

    Congratulations on landing such a cool gig!

  2. Comment posted by Lesley Knight on

    Hello Keith – Thanks for a very entertaining and educative WW session in Adelaide this morning. As a librarian, I thought you may like to know that your book, ‘The Book’, seems to be quite the conundrum for cataloguers. In South Australia’s OneCard Library Network, it is variously designated to the 000s or 800s or 900s. As long as people read it though, eh? They are certain to enjoy it.

    Speaking of which, I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Adelaide.

    Cheerio, Lesley.

    1. Comment posted by Keith Houston on

      Hi Lesley – thanks for coming along! I’m glad you enjoyed the session. We only had a few days in Adelaide, but we had fun – we’ll have to come back another time for a proper visit.

      I’m no librarian, but presumably it’s relatively common to file a book under multiple categories?

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