FROM HACKNEY TO HASTINGS    
With Nicholas Johnson, Iain Sinclair and Rebecca E Marshall

Wednesday the 2nd of March 2011
Doors at 6 pm, Show commences at 7 pm

Three writers showing films and reading poetry and prose published by Etruscan Books.

"The tables covered in beer/Showbiz whines, minute details/It's a hand on the shoulder in Leicester Square/It's a vaudeville pub back room, dusty pictures of white frocked girls and music teachers/The beds too clean, the waters poison for the system/Then you know in your brain/Leave the capitol! Exit this Roman shell!"

As one prominent northern poet once put it. People leave London. But where to? And why? Continental idylls, tax havens, caravan parks, reclaimed asylums, family homes, canal boats. All sorts. Most of us know someone who made the move to Brighton (Hove, actually) and this evening at Suzette Field's College for Practical Knowledge we have the pleasure of three people who have made an alternative southern exodus. To Hastings!

Iain Sinclair should need little introduction for any East London resident. His prose and poetry has been centred in the area. Whether it's Nicholas Hawksmoor's architecture in Lud Heat (1975), redevelopment during the 1980s (Downriver, 1991) or his recent biography of the area (Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire, 2009), he has been writing about London and, just perhaps, how on earth to get out of it. After several circuitous and haphazard attempts, it looks like he may have finally made it. His latest proposal is to travel from Hastings to the London Olympic site using a swan pedalo.

Rebecca E. Marshall is a filmmaker, poet and performance artist and opened the Electric Palace cinema in Hastings in 2002. Her own work includes The Strangeness of Seeing (with Nichola Bruce, 2008) and the principal role in Chris Petit's film Unrequited Love (2005). Her book of wordfilms, Ways to Disappear, is published by Etruscan Books.

Nicholas Johnson founded Etruscan Books in 1996, which specialises in contemporary poetry. In the mid-80s, he sold second hand books in Camden Passage, Islington, as did Iain Sinclair. He first met Rebecca Marshall at Dartington College. All three of them used to live on the same bus route. Nicholas' house in Hastings is situated behind Iain's and both are located at a specific angle to the cinema run by Rebecca. Joining up all these dots on a map is potentially dangerous and should only by undertaken by qualified personnel.

A small fine will be levied for discussion of property prices.

Please visit www.e-truscan.co.uk

Talks at 11 Mare Street - please click here to buy tickets