Thanks again to Haku from our French community partner Cittàgazze for the tip!
March 4, 2010
Oxford Inspires webcast details confirmed
Last month, Kinders alerted us to Philip Pullman’s Cultural Platform at Oxford Inspires. The details of the event have since been confirmed. The live webcast will take place Thursday, 4 March at 1700 GMT, “where Mr. Pullman will share his own perspectives on contemporary cultural issues and the value of culture in modern times.” Click here for more information.
February 28, 2010
Upcoming appearances
Philip Pullman’s latest work The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ will be released 31st March and the author will be making a series of appearance to promote it this coming spring and summer:
- Sunday 28 March, 12 pm: Oxford Literary Festival [link]
- Thursday 1 April, 8 pm: Guildhall, Bath [link]
- Saturday 10 April, 1.30 pm: Cambridge Wordfest – In Conversation with Sir Peter Stothard [link]
- Monday 12 April, 7.45 pm: Royal Festival Hall, QEH – In Conversation with Marina Warner [link]
- Tuesday 13 April, 6.30 pm: English PEN, Free Word Centre – In Conversation with Richard Harries [link]
- Saturday 17 April, 3 pm: Dublin Writers’ Festival, Trinity College – In Conversation with Fintan O’Toole [link]
- Sunday 2 May, 4 pm: New College Forum, New College, Oxford
- Wednesday 26 May, 8 pm: Charleston Festival, Sussex – ‘Enduring Myths’, with David Eagleman and William Nicholson [link]
- Saturday 5 June, 7 pm: Hay on Wye Festival – In Conversation with Peter Florence [link]
- 18-20 June: Shakespeare and Company Literary Festival, Paris, in collaboration with PEN and The New York Review of Books: Storytelling, Politics and the Imagination [link]
- 14-30 August: Edinburgh International Book Festival – details, date, and time to be confirmed [link]
- 8-17 October: Cheltenham Festival – details, date, and time to be confirmed [link]
February 3, 2010
Pullman on culture at Oxford Inspires
Philip Pullman will share his perspectives on “contemporary cultural issues and the value of culture in modern times” at the Oxford Inspires’ Cultural Platforms 2010 event (held at the Said Business School in March). The event will be open to invited guests, and to the general public via a live web-cast of the talk and a web chat with Pullman himself. The topic for the web chat will be “culture”. Email questions to be put to Pullman at sarah.pakes@oxfordinspires.org.
September 20, 2009
Pullman: legalise drugs
Philip Pullman commented in an opinion piece on the legalisation of drugs in The Observer today, saying “Should drugs be legalised? Of course, and as soon as possible. … Legalising drugs would have three huge and immediate benefits: it would cut the link between drugs and crime, and empty the prisons; it would ensure that supplies were pure and reliable and not cut with chalk or worse; and it would provide a vast new source of tax for the Treasury.”
June 1, 2009
Interviewing Pullman
Nick Ahad writes in the Yorkshire Post about his experience interviewing Pullman for the same paper, including a few more comments from Pullman on storytelling: “There are three steps: think of some interesting events, put them in the best order to bring out the connections between them and relate them as clearly as you can.”
Pullman interview and comments on a new book in Yorkshire Post
The Yorkshire Post features an interview with Philip Pullman, in which he discusses writing His Dark Materials, religious controversy, and his latest work, a retelling of the story of Jesus:
“I’m fascinated by theology. The book I’m writing at the minute is about Jesus. I did a talk at the National Theatre with the Archbishop of Canter-bury, we were talking about the theology in the books and he said: ‘You don’t mention Jesus at all’, so I put him in the next book, The Scarecrow and his Servant. Nobody noticed, so I thought I better make it clearer. … I’m writing about this very interesting character called Jesus, who is very different from the character Paul calls Christ. I’ve been reading the gospels and reading around them. It’s fascinating – and I’ve also realised it can’t all be true.”
Pullman also talks about the stage plays and the movies. “In the fullness of time, if the rights revert to me I shall go over there (he points into his library) and cut out some cardboard figures and make it myself.” Thanks to Skye.
May 23, 2009
Philip Pullman in conversation at the West Yorkshire Playhouse
Philip Pullman will visit the West Yorkshire Playhouse on Monday, June 1 at 4.30pm, to talk about the theatrical adaptation of his books and the success of the novels and to answer any pressing questions the audience may have about his work. He will be in conversation with BBC Radio Leeds presenter Andrew Edwards. Tickets are free for all those with tickets to the His Dark Materials play, and £1 for everyone else.
Pullman interviewed in the Scotsman
Philip Pullman is interviewed in the Scotsman, commenting primarily on Off by Heart, but also discussing his personal life, atheism, fan mail and the His Dark Materials films. “If the studios don’t make the next two films, I might do them myself with puppets in the garden shed, like Noggin the Nog.” Thanks to Skye.
April 26, 2009
Pullman interviewed in Scotland on Sunday
In an interview in Scotland on Sunday today, Pullman discusses writing fantasy and escapism, comparisons with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, his creative instincts and adaptations. “I’ve always thought it was utterly stupid to sell the rights to an adaptation and then moan about the way they do it. If you wrote a strong enough story it will stand up to adaptation. The only thing I’m zealously protective about is the integrity of the story. There was a moment early in the film discussions when somebody high up at the studio said, ‘Let’s make Lyra into a boy.’” Thanks to blacksatindancer for the tip.
April 23, 2009
Pullman on adapting Oxford
In an interview with Philip Pullman in the Oxford Times to coincide with the new run of the His Dark Materials stage play, Pullman discusses the representation of Oxford in the books and the play. “Oxford does feature in many works of literature, starting, I suppose, with Alice in Wonderland. I’m happy to be putting my little contribution into the myth of Oxford. … It’s just a habit of thought, I suppose, a way of looking at things I’ve always had. Sunderland Avenue, between the Banbury Road and Woodstock Road roundabouts, has always fascinated me because the hornbeam trees there are so peculiar.”
Pullman also talks about the Birmingham Repertory Theatre production, and makes a new suggestion on the reason for the apparent decision not to produce sequels to the film version of the books, saying “It’s a great shame that it looks as if the films of the two later books won’t now be made, as a result of the credit crunch.”