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On Tuesday 11 July, London’s Barbican Cinema is screening The Incredible Shrinking Man – a brilliant fable of 1950s existential anxiety that takes in everything from atomic dust-clouds to monstrous spider battles to the dizzying infinity of the cosmos. I’m doing a brief introduction.  Don’t miss this opportunity to see it on the big screen – book here.

Anywhere near Sydney next week? Come to the Sydney Writers Festival on 22-28 May!

I’ll be talking about At the Existentialist Cafe on Sunday 28 May at 10.00 am, though this event is now sold out.  And on Thursday 25 May at 11.00, I’m on the Curiosity stage sharing my enthusiasm for Bambi – the existentialist hero.  Just turn up on the day for that one – and it’s free.

Wonderful to see the Existentialists arriving in the homeland of philosophy: the Greek translation of At the Existentialist Cafe is now out, published by Alexandria.

To go with it, here is an article published in Το Βήμα last weekend.

Good news: At the Existentialist Cafe is now out in Vintage paperback, published in the UK on 2 March 2017 and available from all reputable booksellers (and perhaps some disreputable ones, too).

Further details are now available for the event at the Literaturhaus in Hamburg on 22 April 2017 – here they are.

Also, if you’re in Munich, do come along to: Das Cafe der Existenzialisten – a soiree mit Sarah Bakewell, at the Literaturhaus, Sunday 12 March at 5.00pm.  The conversation will be in English, with readings from the book in German.

Another such evening is coming up in Hamburg on Saturday 22 April – more details to follow soon.

Two events coming up in London:

“Existentialism is easy”, at the London School of Economics, Friday 24 February at 6.30pm. I’ll be speaking with Andy Martin, Stella Stanford, and Shahidha Bari about being, nothing, and whatever else comes up.   Entrance is free but should be booked in advance (apologies for the late notice).

“How to Live”, at the South Bank Centre, Saturday 4 March at 1.00pm.  It forms part of the “Belief and Non-Belief” festival, and entrance is by a Saturday or weekend pass.  I’ll be talking with a comedian and a lama: Sofie Hagen and Lelung Rinpoche.

A quick round-up of excellent news for At the Existentialist Cafe!

It is one of the New York Times‘ Ten Best Books of the Year for 2016.

It’s also been chosen as a book of the year by Kathryn Hughes, Graeme Macrae Burnet and Julian Baggini in The Guardian, and by Sudhir Hazareesingh in The Times Literary Supplement.  And it is Nigel Warburton’s no.-1 choice in his Five Best Philosophy Books of 2016, on the Five Books site.

Calls for a celebration, I’d say.  Apricot cocktail, anyone?

More new translations of the Existentialists have come out: the Dutch De existentialisten, published by Ten Have, and the Italian Al caffè degli esistenzialisti, published by Fazi, both in November 2016. 

These join their fellow Euro-existentialists:  Das Café des Existenzialisten (Beck, Germany, July), and the Spanish En el café de los existencialistas, (Ariel, September).

Others to come soon …

Some more upcoming UK events for the Existentialist Cafe:

Wigtown Festival, Friday 30 September: talking about the book with Lee Randall. Details and booking here.

Durham Festival, Saturday 8 October: discussing Paris in the 1930s, with Jo Baker.  More here.

Manchester Festival, Saturday 15 October: talking about the book – see here.