Manchester City Art Gallery talk - new date

The Manchester City Art Gallery talk on the poetry of Mervyn Peake, which unfortunately had to be postponed, has now been rescheduled for 12.30 lunchtime on 20th November 2008.

Manchester City Art Gallery talk

I would like to extend my sincere apologies to anyone who had thought of coming to the talk I was due to give at Manchester City Art Gallery today. Blaming others is not attractive trait, but in this case I will. 'Due to a malfunction with the railway signals north of Nuneaton, the train will now return to Northampton, restart then continue to Manchester via the Midlands route', we were advised. 'Please expect delays of three hours.'

As this was a lunchtime talk it was decided to postpone the event. By way of compensation Virgin Trains did however announce that they 'would like offer all our passengers a free bottle of water'.

As soon as a new date is confirmed it will be posted on the blog.

Jenny Uglow , Words and Pictures

'Artists and cartoonists, good and bad, can alter our perceptions. Some illustrators respond so strongly that they create a new parallel work, like Mervyn Peake's haunting The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'. So writes Jenny Uglow in her new book, Words & Pictures, about to be published by Faber & Faber.

Mervyn Peake talk in Swindon

For anyone interested in the life and work of Mervyn Peake, but who might not have been to my recent talks, I will be speaking at the prestigious Swindon Festival of Literature at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 29th October. My updated talk now incorporates much from Carcanet Books wonderful Collected Poems of Mervyn Peake which I'm pleased to say has just recently been reprinted, a rare occurrence in the world of poetry.

7.30 pm 29th October, Swindon Arts Centre
For tickets phone 01793 614837 or email boxoffice@swindon.gov.uk

Plaques based on Mervyn Peake's illustrations to Treasure Island

Apart from being the landlord of a rural Gloucestershire pub, Mark Steeds is also the inspiration behind the Long John Silver Trust. Now hopeful that Bristol City Council will finally grant permission for the erection of the first of several plaques based on characters from Treasure Island, Mark and his team have commissioned the first of these to be produced. There will eventually be quite a few on the Treasure Island Trail, the first of which is likely to be placed on the wall of the famous pub where one scene in the novel takes place.

Paperback edition of Mervyn Peake: The Man and His Art

At the beginning of November Peter Owen will be publishing a paperback edition of Mervyn Peake: The Man & His Art. The book will be priced at £19.95. With many pre-publication orders already received the publisher will hope to repeat the outstanding sales and critical success of the hardcover edition, which has now sold out.