What I can remember of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation

It has now been 50 years since the release of Antony Burgess' seminal Speculative Fiction novel, A Clockwork Orange. To celebrate this, The International Anthony Burgess Foundation on Manchester's Cambridge Street held a fascinating talk about the book on Thursday 18^th October. The event was held as part of the annual Manchester Literature Festival. If you're into writing, you should check it out next year. I made copious notes throughout the talk, then lost my fucking notebook some days later. Bog blast it!

So instead of me ranting about what little I can remember, check out L.J. Spillane's superb account over on the Lit Festival's official blog. 

It's real horrorshow, oh my brothers!

Having said that, I do remember that one of the contributors- Dr. Andrew Biswell, director of the Foundation- recognised me from his Facebook friends when he was signing his book for me. I was reading The Real Life of Anthony Burgess at the time and had the book in my bag.

I really enjoyed the talk, which focussed largely on Burgess' most-known work, A Clockwork Orange. It's still fascinating to hear how prescient the novel is, and how much of an influence it has had on the world of literature. If you haven't read it, you should.

Whilst there, I bought a copy of Burgess' spy thriller Tremor of Intent and also “acquired” a beer mat advertising Clockwork Orange-inspired beer, “Chocwork Orange”.

I really enjoyed the night, and so did my mum who came along with me. It's not often we find a similar interest, but she said she found it engaging too. An all-round win of an evening.