Michael Carson Talk 5th September 2011

6.00 - 7.00pm
5th September 2011
Wallasey Central Library
Earlston Road
Wallasey
CH45 5DX

An opportunity to meet one of New Brighton's best known writers as we await the publication of his latest book about his character Benson.

Michael Carson is the pen name of British author Michael Wherly. He is best known for his Benson trilogy of novels, about a young man growing up Catholic and homosexual.

Carson was born in 1946 in Wallasey, in the north-west of England. He was brought up a devout Catholic.

After attending Aberystwyth and Oxford universities, and training at International House World Organisation in London, he spent twenty years teaching English as a Foreign Language primarily in the Arab world. He has lectured in writing at Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Liverpool and the University of Lancaster. He mentors for Crossing Borders, a project to encourage African writers. Carson won the Writers Inc prize in 2006 for his story All over the Place. He has also worked as a lifeguard.

Carson released a collection of short stories in 1993, Serving Suggestions, published by Victor Gollancz (ISBN 0-552-99586-X), which includes "The Punishment of Luxury". A further collection of short stories, The Rule of Twelfths, was published by Headland in May 2008.[4] Fifty short stories by Michael Carson have also featured on BBC Radio Four. Wikipedia

Michael Carson's books include:

Sucking Sherbet Lemons ISBN 0-552-99348-4
Stripping Penguins Bare ISBN 0-552-99465-0
Yanking Up The Yoyo ISBN 0-552-99524-X
Friends and Infidels ISBN 0-552-99380-8
Coming Up Roses ISBN 0-552-99421-9
Demolishing Babel ISBN 0-385-40431-X
Dying in Style ISBN 1-853-71817-3
Hubbies ISBN 1-853-71678-2
The Knight of the Flaming Heart ISBN 0-385-40651-7

All the above books are available to borrow at the Library. My tip is to start with the original Benson trilogy - Sucking Sherbet Lemons, Stripping Penguins Bare and Yanking Up The Yoyo.

'Irresistible' The Guardian. 'Makes you want to cheer' The New Yorker. 'A Gay Adrian Mole...the funniest novel I've read all year' Simon Callow. 'This book will always be a reminder to me of the courage of purpose, the futility of the oppressor, and, above all, the power of laughter' Michael Cashman, MEP. 'One of the freshest voices on the current scene.' The Literary Review.