Literary London Reading Group

Writer and environmentalist Ken Worpole has kindly agreed to introduce our first session in which we will be having a butchers hook (sorry) at the figure of the gangster in literary imaginings of the East End. Using Alexander Baron’s King Dido (1969), and Iain Sinclair’s depiction of Ronnie Kray’s funeral in Lights Out for the Territory (1997) as our points of departure, we will examine how these writers engage with and complicate a reading of the gangster as a figure of authority governing the ‘anarchic’ provinces of London’s slumland. This event will take place from 6-7.30pm on the 20th March in room 104 at Senate House (here is a useful map of the local area). If you would like to attend this session then we would be very grateful if you could contact us at [email protected] and register your interest.

Recommended Reading

Ken has written a highly informative introduction for the Fives Leaves edition of King Dido, which is available to purchase from the Inpress Books website for £9.99. A copy of the Lights out for the Territory extract is available at the following link.