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 Andrew Hook.

Here are the confirmed authors for June's Book Slam...

• James Kinsley’s first book Playtime’s Over (Propolis, 2021) is a commentary on mental health, loss and isolation as seen at the moment of death by the protagonist, Will and his unconscious-brought-to-life, Viktor. His second book, Greyskin (Deixis Press, 2023), is an interwoven tapestry of frontier adventures and settlers’ tales in a fantasy setting, combining thrilling action with themes of colonialism and race. He also self-publishes science fiction under the name Ray Adams.
• The vibrant style Ali Smith brings to her writing and photography—featured regularly in The New York Times, The Guardian, and others—was forged in New York’s underground music scene where she played, toured and recorded with seminal punk band, Speedball Baby. She’s released two award-winning books of photography about women’s lives, and her memoir, The Ballad of Speedball Baby, has been highly acclaimed. Find out more at alismith.com.
• Judith Heneghan is a writer and editor and leads the MA Creative Writing programme at the University of Winchester. Her first novel, Snegurochka is set in Kyiv in the early 1990s and was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford/Ciccerone Travel Writing Awards. Her new novel, Birdeye - described by Costa Novel winner Claire Fuller as 'Evocative, haunting, masterful' - is set in the Catskill Mountains, upstate New York. Both novels are published by Salt.
• Guy Ware’s short stories have been listed for many awards, including the Bridport, Fish, Galley Beggars and London Short Story Prize, which he won in 2018, and the Frank O’Connor International and Edge Hill prizes for his collection You Have 24 Hours to Love Us (Comma). He is the author of five novels, all published by Salt. The latest, Our Island Story, is “a riotous, brutal and surprisingly touching black comedy about our refusal to face reality, even – especially – when it’s about to kill us”.
• Winner of the Rheidol New Welsh Writing Award 2022, Tim Cooke is a teacher, writer and creative writing PhD student. His creative work has appeared in various journals and magazines, including the New Welsh Reader, The Shadow Booth, Weird Horror Magazine, CloisterFox, Black Static and Hinterland Magazine. Tim’s debut collection of short stories, Where We Live, was published in 2020, and his Nightjar Press chapbook, The Judgment, was released in 2023. His second collection of short stories, Dark Play, was released by Salo Press in March 2024.

Doors open at 19:00. The event begins at 19:30.