Books
Chair: Suzi Feay
Secretary: Lucy Popescu
Ordinary: Phillip Bergson
The Books section was formed in the Circle’s centenary 2013 and now has 39 members. In the first year, the Books section held an open meeting for all members of the Circle to attend an address by the author Sir Barney White Spunner KCB CBE at the Liberal Club. Other talks and events are planned.
News & Reviews
Matthew Rye
The Critics’ Circle is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Matthew Rye at the age of 60. Matthew was a much-loved figure, well known for his quiet, astute intelligence, a profound knowledge of music which he nevertheless wore lightly, and a kind, unassuming,…
Rosebowl lunch 2020 for Michael Frayn
On Wednesday 14 July 2021, towards the end of the morning, the Critics’ Circle helped to get the wheels of live social intercourse moving again when fifty members arrived for luncheon at the National Liberal Club. The guest of honour was novelist and playwright…
Michael Frayn wins 2020 Rosebowl
Every year since 1988, the Critics’ Circle has voted for a single leading artist to receive an engraved crystal Rosebowl in recognition of their distinguished contribution to the arts. The first recipient was Sir Peter Hall, Director of the National Theatre and…
Dame Janet Baker wins Critics’ Circle award for Distinguished Service to the Arts
One of the greatest living stars of British classical music, the mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker CH DBE, was voted the winner of the 2019 Critics’ Circle Rosebowl by the 500 members of the Circle. Regrettably both the announcement and the award have been delayed by the…
Book Review – Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
In Ayad Akhtar’s 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Disgraced, his principle character, Amir, a Pakistani-American lawyer, admits feeling a “blush of pride” at 9/11. Akhtar was exploring the crisis of identity felt by many Muslim-Americans in the wake of the terror…
Hockney dispels Shadows
On 3rd October 2018, Britain’s foremost artist David Hockney received the Critics’ Circle award for Distinguished Service to Art. The relaxed ceremony took place over lunch at the Chelsea Arts Club, London, a beautiful venue with access through long french…
My Cat Yugoslavia: Review
Review by Lucy Popescu, Secretary of the Books Section My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci Translated from the Finnish by David Hackston Pushkin Press Pajtim Statovci’s remarkable debut novel is a poignant examination of the migrant-refugee experience…
Self & I by Matthew De Abaitua
AT the age of 22 Matthew De Abaitua worked for six months as amanuensis to the writer Will Self. It was the mid-1990s and Abaitua was studying for an MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. Self was the bad-boy author of a novella, Cock and…
