The Authors’ Club is delighted to present an evening discussion with the authors of two books about different, often overlooked aspects of the capital – the doors we pass unnoticed every day, and what lies beneath the ground under our feet. Each book, in its own way, opens a new perspective on the city and encourages the reader to see familiar scenes with fresh eyes.
In London Clay: Journeys in the Deep City, Tom Chivers follows hidden pathways, explores lost islands and uncovers the geological mysteries that burst up through the pavement and bubble to the surface of our streets. From Roman ruins to a submerged playhouse, from an abandoned Tube station to underground rivers, Chivers leads us on a journey into the depths of the city he loves. A lyrical interrogation of a capital, a landscape, and our connection to place, London Clay celebrates the in-between spaces where the natural world and the metropolis collide. Through a combination of historical research, vivid reportage and personal memoir, it will transform how you see London, and cities everywhere.
‘Tom Chivers brings a poet’s sensibility to this book about the hidden parts of the capital, mixing the past with the present, the known with the unknown and his personal story with social history and geology.’ — Bernardine Evaristo
Tom Chivers photo: Akiko DuPont
Tom Chivers is a writer, publisher and arts producer. He was born in 1983 in south London, and has released two pamphlets and two collections of poetry, the latest being Dark Islands (Test Centre, 2015). His poems have been anthologised in Dear World & Everything in It and London: A History in Verse. He was shortlisted for the Michael Marks and Edwin Morgan Poetry Awards and received an Eric Gregory Award in 2011. In 2009 he presented a documentary for BBC Radio 4 about the poet Barry MacSweeney, and in 2011 an animated film of his poem ‘The Event’ was broadcast by Channel 4’s Random Acts.
The photographer Cath Harries was on assignment for a pub guide when she started to notice the doors she passed. With the house historian Melanie Backe-Hansen, she has created Doors of London: Styles, Stories, Art & Architecture, an illustrated borough-by-borough guide to the city’s front doors, from the grand banking institutions of Threadneedle Street to Huguenot silk-weavers houses in Spitalfields, from churches, mosques and synagogues to Victorian villas in the suburbs. Every door tells a story, conveying the status and aspirations of the occupants, and past generations have often left haunting traces of their presence: a gas lantern, a ring for tying up horses, or a boot scraper to clean off mud and dung.
‘Harries supplied the images and Backe-Hansen wrote the accompanying door-related descriptions; it was a match made in architectural heaven.’ — Mail on Sunday You Magazine
Cath Harries
Cath Harries is a freelance photographer based in London. Her clients over the years have included Visit London, Dorling Kindersley, CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), New Holland Books, Young’s pubs, Regus and John Lewis, and she can often be found photographing events at the Houses of Parliament. Cath has been the set photographer on productions filmed by Sky Arts and Plenitude Productions and has photographed a number of books including A Foodie’s Guide to London, London’s Best Pubs, London’s Afternoon Teas, London’s Classic Restaurants and the Haynes Whisky Enthusiast’s Manual.
Melanie Backe-Hansen
Melanie Backe-Hansen has completed hundreds of house histories on private commissions across the country and acted as research consultant for television and radio series, notably A House Through Time, presented by David Olusoga, on BBC Two. She was historical research consultant and on-screen expert on Phil Spencer’s History of Britain in 100 Homes for More4 and house historian on BBC Radio 4’s A Home of Our Own. Her previous books include A House Through Time with David Olusoga, House Histories: The Secrets behind Your Front Door and Historic Streets and Squares: The Secrets on Your Doorstep.
Admission is free, but please register for a place via Eventbrite.
