Writers in Conversation - Brian Dillon Event
- Time:
- 19:30
- Date:
- 3 February 2020
- Venue:
- NST Campus
Event details
Brian Dillon, the Irish essayist who has explored subjects including art, ruins, hypochondria, loss and the essay itself in his seven books, will read from his recent work as part of the University of Southampton English department’s Writers in Conversation series.
Dillon’s wide-ranging non-fiction writing includes In the Dark Room: A Journey in Memory, which examines his memories of his parents, who both died by the time Dillon was 21. Winner of the Irish book award for non-fiction, In the Dark Room was described by the Independent as “less a personal narrative than an anguished monument to the idea of memory itself.”
Most recently, he published Essayism: On Form, Feeling and Non-Fiction, which explores the essay form itself. Out of the “disarray” of his early adulthood, the New York Times writes, “come these crystalline pieces — and a sense, never belabored, of the stakes of creating essays and the consolations of loving them.”
After reading, Dillon will also answer questions in a q-and-a led by writer Carole Burns, head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.
"A vital book for people who turn to art – and especially writing – for consolation" – Guardian
"A witty and original writer" – New York Times
Tickets: £5
Free for Uni of Southampton English staff and students with code
Speaker information
Brian Dillon, born in Dublin in 1969. His books include Essayism, The Great Explosion (shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize), Objects in This Mirror: Essays, I Am Sitting in a Room, Sanctuary, Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives (shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize) and In the Dark Room, which won the Irish Book Award for non-fiction. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, New York Times, London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, Bookforum, frieze and Artforum. He is UK editor of Cabinet magazine, and teaches at the Royal College of Art, London.