There’s exciting times ahead in Edinburgh and London next week as David Eagleman, author of Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives flies in from the US for two very special events organised by UK publisher, Canongate.
The first event in Edinburgh on 11th November at 7pm at the Traverse Theatre, will see Eagleman joined by former Bishop of Edinburgh and author, Richard Holloway, as they discuss Sum, and Eagleman’s remarkably imagined vignettes on the afterlife. In the London event, which takes place the following evening (12th November, 7:30pm) at the Southbank Centre, Eagleman will be joined by Philip Pullman in a similar discussion chaired by the BBC’s Kirsty Lang.
Although full details have yet to be confirmed, both events will also include live and recorded readings from a number of prestigious Sum: Forty Tales fans, including Nick Cave, Stephen Fry, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno, and The Wire’s Clarke Peters.
Sadly, at the time of posting, tickets for the London event have now sold out, but tickets for the Edinburgh event are still available – I know this for sure because I’ve just booked mine. So if you were contemplating on going to the Edinburgh event, but needed another good reason to go, then you’ve got one – you may bump into me 
.
Seriously though these look like great events. Sum: Forty Tales has been getting a lot of rave reviews since it was published, and being about halfway through it myself I can wholeheartedly confirm this (although Stephen Fry’s proclamation that ‘you will not find a more dazzling book this year or he’ll eat 40 hats’ is a lot more effectively endorsing than I could ever be ). It’s not just about the quality of the book though. Canongate have lined up two excellent discussion partners in Richard Holloway and Philip Pullman. Holloway, who’s latest book I’m also in the midst of reading (Between the Monster and the Saint), is known for his outspoken views on the Church, and Philip Pullman you may remember, is publishing his sure-to-be-controversial rewritings of the Gospels next year. Who better than these two then, to talk about afterlife with David Eagleman?
Further details on these events can be found on the Sum event page at the Traverse Theatre website, and the Sum event page at the Southbank Centre website.
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