Getting Over God - writers Damian Barr, Sarah Perry, and Kit de Waal talk to Peter Francis

In our first digital event - the first of many! - three of the UK's most exciting writers talk to Peter Francis. Their conversation roams over faith, churches, religion and religious practices, and how their own experiences have shaped their writing.

Getting Over God from Gladstone's Library on Vimeo.

This event was recorded by Gladstone's Library on 22nd November 2020. 

Thank-you to Damian, Sarah and Kit for donating their time to make this video. We're very grateful to them, and to everyone who continues to support the Library through this time of financial difficulty. If you feel you can support the Library financially, please click here to find out more.

Event Participants

Damian Barr 

Damian Barr is a writer and broadcaster. His first book was Maggie & Me (2013), a memoir of surviving Thatcher-era Scotland that won Sunday Times Memoir of the Year for its poignancy and humour. His first novel was You Will Be Safe Here, published to critical acclaim. Set in South Africa in 1900 and now, Damian says it's about mothers and sons, and how history repeats itself. When he's not writing, Damian hosts his own Literary Salon and the BBC's Big Scottish Bookclub.

To visit Damian's website please click here.

Sarah Perry                                                     

Sarah Perry is the author of Melmoth, The Essex Serpent and After Me Comes the Flood. The Essex Serpent was Waterstone's Book of the Year 2016; Melmoth was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, the world's largest literary prize for young writers, and was Observer Fiction Book of the Year 2018. The three novels have come to be known as Sarah's Neo-Gothic trilogy, and she is one of Britain's foremost contemporary writers, known for her rich, evocative writing. Sarah's latest book is the polemical essay Essex Girls.

To visit Sarah's website please click here.

Kit de Waal                                                       

Born to an Irish mother and a Caribbean father, Kit de Waal was brought up among the Irish community of Birmingham in the 60s and 70s. Her debut novel My Name is Leon was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, long listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for 2017. Her second novel, The Trick to Time, was long listed for the Women's Prize and her young adult novel Becoming Dinah is shortlisted for the Carnegie CILIP Award 2020. She also crowdfunded and edited an anthology of working-class memoir, Common People, which was published in 2018. Kit was named the FutureBook Person of the Year in 2019. Her most recent work, Supporting Cast, is a collection of short stories.

To visit Kit's website please click here.

Interviewed by Peter Francis

Peter Francis is Warden and Director of Gladstone's Library. Please click here for his staff biography.