Mon 12 February 2007 at 5.00 pm

‘John Calder: A Life in Publishing’: Professor Alistair McCleery

Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies

Publishing Research Seminar

Taking Place: Buckley BG10 in Semester 2 2007

The publisher and bookseller John Calder cut his teeth in the 1950s and 60s, publishing avant-garde, experimental and controversial work from some of the twentieth century's leading writers, including Samuel Beckett, Marguerite Duras, Eugene Ionesco, Henry Miller and Williams Burroughs.  Always valuing the intellect above the wallet, never afraid to shock, and still publishing and bookselling today, John Calder has led a fascinating life in publishing.  Calder presents a very different mode of publishing to that of the multimedia conglomerates we have grown used to in recent years.

This seminar will include the showing of the documentary film ‘John Calder: A Life in Publishing', which includes vintage footage from the large-scale literary events staged in Edinburgh by Calder in the 1960s, contributions from a number of writers and publishers connected to Calder, and traces the history of Calder and his various book trade enterprises to the present day.

The film will be introduced by Alistair McCleery, and will be followed by discussion.