Film critic Mark Kermode will be talking about his book It’s Only a Movie at the Duke of York Picture House in Brighton on the 29th March 2010. From the website:

In this talk, Mark will revisit some real-life scenes that he remembers with cinematic clarity: getting shot at while interviewing Werner Herzog in Hollywood, being handbagged by Helen Mirren at the BAFTAs, being thrown out of the Cannes Film Festival for heckling in very bad French.

Outspoken, opinionated and never lost for words, Mark gives a hilarious account of a life obsessed with film, which will appeal to anyone who’s ever wondered: “Who would play me in the film of my life?”

For more details, please visit the website.

Dan Cruikshank, author of The Secret History of Georgian London will give a talk on researching and writing the book at the Oxford Literary Festival on the 26th March 2010.

From the website:

Drawing extensively on contemporary memoirs, court cases and the evidence of art and architecture, architectural historian and television presenter Dan Cruickshank explains how Georgian London was shaped by the sex industry.

His approach is ambitiously wide-ranging, and examines both the smart new streets that sprang up in Marylebone and the squalid alleys around Charing Cross.

He also discusses the impact of prostitution on artists such as William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds, as he argues that prostitution shaped 18th-century London and helped determine its future development.

TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT HAVE SOLD OUT

Nick Harkaway, author of The Gone-Away World, will be on the panel discussing ‘How to Write a Bestseller’ at the Oxford Literary Festival on the 24th March 2010.

From the website:

What truly makes a bestseller? What do agents and publishers look for when they sign a new author? What are the differences between a fiction and a non-fiction bestseller?

Chaired by Barry Turner, editor of The Writer’s Handbook, the definitive guide to getting your book published, these questions and more will be discussed in a lively debate between Clive Bloom, author of Bestsellers, novelist Nick Harkaway, sci-fi fiction author George Mann, Peggy Vance, Publisher at Dorling Kindersley and Michael Alcock, Literary agent at Johnson & Alcock.

Tickets cost £10. Click here to buy