Just out the Van:
"Writers write. Actors read. Audiences listen. Everybody wins..." at the Liars' League next Tuesday. Six stories stretch from last century to the end of the earth including work from Kay Sexton, Toby Smith, Andrew Lloyd-Jones, hosted by David Mildon and the mysterious sounding "League".
7pm, £2, Upstairs at The Lamb, 94 Lamb's Conduit Street, WC1N 3LZ.
Givin’ ‘em away:
As part of the re-opening celebrations for the Royal Festival Hall, Billy Bragg will be signing copies of his new paperback, The Progressive Patriot at Foyles at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 9 June from 3.45-4.30pm. Full details of the Overture weekend here.
Try a Bit of This:
Yes, he is very much himself this way, teeth cutting through the meager flesh, crunching the little bones. It tastes only of what it is: lizard skin and cool blood, neither sweet nor bitter, just raw, and nothing at all like chicken, despite the evolutionary connection. He chews the lizard until he knows the bones are safe enough for his throat. At the moment of swallowing, he is without any remorse, secure in the knowledge that as long as he can do this terrible thing, he can survive the terrible things they do to him.
That night, before the lights are switched off, he eats six lizards. Or seven. Or eight. Nine? He really doesn't count anymore.
But when he's lying in the dark, a black wave of shame rolls over him. He speaks to the night in an unequivocal voice. "There is no alternative.
"And furthermore, I am not the only one."
The darkness pounds on and on, moralizing.
"Whatever happens has happened before. I am not the first. Others did this, and later, they were men again." He raises his voice, to make sure the darkness hears him. "I am still a man. My name is Teza."
Extract from The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly, today the winner of the 2007 Orange Prize for New Writers.
Two for a Pound:
1. Haruki Murakami’s new novel reviewed at the Times.
2. How film of the book became a drama.