Norwich Book Slam

Each month in 2024, a handful of emerging authors will read from their latest books, in the intimate comfort of our Music Room. Grab yourself a drink from the bar and join other book lovers as these fresh voices bring their words to life, topped off with a Q&A hosted by Chris Parker.

• Tom Benn is a writer and lecturer at UEA. His essays and fiction have appeared in Granta and the Paris Review. His first film - Real Gods Require Blood - premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. His debut novel - The Doll Princess - was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas and Portico Prizes. His latest - Oxblood - was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, the CWA's Gold Dagger, and won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award.
• Lisa Fransson is a bilingual writer living on the south coast of England with her husband and three teenagers. In her native Swedish, she’s an award-winning children’s author, while in her adopted English she’s a writer of novels, short fiction and poetry. Her debut novel - The Shape of Guilt - has been acclaimed by reviewers as being “emotionally complex”, “beautifully weird” and “gorgeous and provocative”.
• Joe Bedford is an author from Doncaster, UK. His short stories have been published widely, and have won numerous awards including the Leicester Writes Prize 2022. His debut novel - A Bad Decade for Good People - was published in 2023.
• Mark A. Radcliffe is the author of three novels - Gabriel's Angel (2010) and Stranger Than Kindness (2013), and Three Gifts (2023). He is currently the Subject Lead for Creative Writing at West Dean College of Art and Conservation. He lives in Hove and swims in the sea a lot.
• Effie Black is a London-based writer with a background in science. She enjoys writing from a queer perspective and she likes bringing a spot of science into her fiction too. Effie’s short stories have appeared in Litro and the époque press é-zine. In Defence of the Act is Effie’s debut novel.
• Ben Pester’s debut short story collection - Am I in the Right Place? - was long-listed for the 2022 Edge Hill Prize. His work has appeared in Granta, The London Magazine, Hotel, Five Dials and elsewhere. When not writing fiction, he is a technical writer. He lives with his family in North London.