An Evening with Olivia Laing

To celebrate the launch of the paperback of their latest novel The Silver Book join us for an evening of conversation with award winning writer, Olivia Laing.It is September 1974.

Two men meet by chance in Venice.

One is a young English artist, in panicked flight from London.

The other is Danilo Donati, the magician of Italian cinema, the designer responsible for realising the spectacular visions of Fellini and Pasolini.

Donati is in Venice to produce sketches for Fellinis Casanova.

A young and beautiful apprentice is just what he needs.He sweeps Nicholas to Rome, into the looking-glass world of Cinecitt, the studio where Casanovas Venice will be ingeniously assembled.

Then in the spring, the lovers move together to the set of Sal, Pasolinis horrifying fable of fascism.But Nicholas has a secret and in this world of constant illusion, his real nature passes unseen.

Amidst the rising tensions of Italys Years of Lead, he acts as an accelerant, setting in motion a tragedy he didnt intend.Heartbreaking.

I did not want this story to end Nigel SlaterOlivia Laing is a British writer, novelist and cultural critic.

They are the author of five brilliant works of non-fictionTo the River, The Trip to Echo Spring, The Lonely City, Everybody, and The Garden Against Timeas well as an essay collection, Funny Weather, and two novels, Crudo and The Silver Book.