Shoestring evenings at the Flying Goose Cafe, Beeston

Jon McGregor and I launched this year’s monthly readings at the Flying Goose Cafe last night. It was a lovely evening, where we both did old stuff in the first half (tho’ Jon hadn’t performed his postcards from a 2005 voyage to Antarctica before) and new material in the second half. I read a story about Guantanamo Bay, which I hope (especially after today’s news) will be out of date by the time it’s published. Jon read an extract from his next novel, ‘Even The Dogs’, which goes to Bloomsbury next week and is due to be published in February 2010. The only hiccup during the evening was during my last reading, when a mutual friend keeled over in a faint, luckily hitting the floor rather than the edge of a table. But he was well enough to crack jokes about Chuck Palahniuk within a couple of minutes.

There are currently two more readings lined up in this series and, since the details of each have changed, I thought I’d plug them here. On February 24th, in an international evening, Anglo-Australian poet Adrian Caesar will be reading, along with Scottish-Canadian poet Alexander Hutchison. On Tuesday March 17th, the season concludes with a rare reading from Anne Stevenson and special guest. The Flying Goose Cafe is on Chilwell Road, Beeston and the readings run from 7.30-9 with a free glass of wine and other refreshments available, at a bargain price of £3. Arrive early!