“Hanif Kureishi deals with personal calamity with wit, unflinching honesty and literary grace. It’s an extraordinary achievement.” – Salman Rushdie
Hanif Kureishi, author of The Buddha of Suburbia and My Beautiful Laundrette joins long-term friend and fellow novelist Nigel Williams to talk about his extraordinary new memoir. On Boxing Day 2022, in Rome, Hanif Kureishi had a fall. When he came to, in a pool of blood, he was horrified to realise he had lost the use of his limbs. He could no longer walk, write or wash himself. He could do nothing without the help of others, and required constant care in a hospital. So began an odyssey of a year through the medical systems of Rome and Italy, with the hope of somehow being able to return home, to his house in London.
While confined to a series of hospital wards, he felt compelled to write, but being unable to type or to hold a pen, he began to dictate to family members the words which formed in his head. The result was an extraordinary series of dispatches from his hospital bed – a diary of a life in pieces, recorded with rare honesty, clarity and courage.
This book takes these hospital dispatches – edited, expanded and meticulously interwoven with new writing – and charts both a shattering and a reassembling: a new life born of pain and loss, but animated by new feelings – of gratitude, humility and love.
Hanif Kureishi grew up in Kent and studied philosophy at King’s College London. His novels include The Buddha of Suburbia, which won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, The Black Album, Intimacy and The Last Word. His screenplays include My Beautiful Laundrette, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and Le Week-End. He has also published several collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and been translated into thirty-six languages.
The aim of Ealing Book Festival is to celebrate the joy of reading and to advance engagement and education around literature and reading. Through our events we hope to bring people and communities together; grow audiences for literature; inspire writers and readers of all ages; showcase well-known authors and promote local writers.
Saturday 26 April
2.00 – 3:00 pm
Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery
Ealing Green, London W5 5EQ
£15.00
Please contact info@ealingbookfestival.com for more information.
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More infoA vibrant literary festival at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery with acclaimed authors, poetry, workshops, and family events.
More infoJoin artist and storyteller Narvir Singh for a creative writing workshop on the theme ‘My Story, My Future’.
More infoThe award-winning historian examines how women and girls were drafted into a band which was forced to give weekly concerts to Nazi officers and play marching music to other inmates at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
More infoJoin Ealing’s finest literary talent as they take to the stage to dazzle you with their work in an action-packed evening.
More info
PITZHANGER MANOR & GALLERY
Ealing Green, London
W5 5EQ
For ticketing, opening times and tour enquiries, please contact: foh@pitzhanger.org.uk
For retail enquires: retail@pitzhanger.org.uk
Reception: 020 3985 8888
Venue Hire: 020 3994 0966
Office: 020 3994 0967
pitzhanger@pitzhanger.org.uk
Wednesday - Sunday: 10:00 - 17:00
First Thursday of the month: 10:00 - 20:00
Monday - Tuesday: Closed
Bank Holidays: 10:00 - 17:00
Last admissions one hour before closing