Conference: Ways of Seeing John Berger
Presented by the Centre for Life-Writing Research at King's College, London, and the Department of English & Drama at the British Library
6-8 September 2012, London
2012 marks the 40th Anniversary of two of John Berger’s major works: the novel G., winner of the Booker and James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, and the collaborative, BAFTA-winning BBC TV series and book Ways of Seeing. In celebration, the Centre for Life-Writing Research at King’s College, London, and the Department of English and Drama at the British Library - home, since 2009, to the major collection of Berger’s papers - are holding a series of events.
The conference will be held at King’s College London, with an evening of discussion and celebration at the British Library on Friday 7 September.
Call for papers
Download a pdf (106kb) version of the call for papers.
To present a paper discussing any aspect of Berger’s life, work, influence, or collaborators, send an abstract of no more than 500 words to tom.overton@bl.uk by 30 April 2012.
About the John Berger archive
The eminent writer, critic, and thinker John Berger (right) donated his archive to the British Library in 2009.
The archive of previously unseen 'put-aside objects' (Berger's description of archives in his collection Here is Where we Meet) was transferred to the care of the British Library from its former home in a remote French Alpine village.
Jamie Andrews (below), Head of English and Drama at the British Library, set off to that very village on 20 June 2009 to help sort through the Berger papers – previously stored in an old stables – and bring them back to the climate-controlled storage areas in the heart of the British Library's St Pancras building.
Jamie
recorded his journey to retrieve the archive from the mountain-top
village on the British Library Twitter
feed.
He also posted sound updates on the AudioBoo website documenting his progress.
'John Berger's archive contains over 100 file boxes of drafts, scripts, reviews, and correspondence and I'm hoping to discover some surprises when I get there. John has asked for some help with the hay harvesting while I'm over there, so it should be a unique experience collecting a wonderful new addition to our pre-eminent literary collections,' said Jamie before he left.
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AudioBoo
Hear from Jamie on his trip to meet John Berger in the French Alps and
view his photos on AudioBoo.
For example, Jamie boos from Geneva below, and discusses John's views
on the nature of archives and libraries. More
boos
 |  Google map of boos |
Press coverage
The
Guardian 20 June 2009 General article
BBC news
website 22 June 2009 General article
The
Guardian 23 June 2009 Early surprises from the archive
Le
Monde 23 June 2009 La générosité de John
Berger
BBC Radio 4 25
June 2009 (start at 19:01) Jamie interviewed on You and Yours
BBC Radio 3 Oct 2010 Jamie Andrews talks about 'Harvesting the Archive'
More audio
Geoff
Dyer podcast Exclusive interview with Geoff Dyer (right) –
novelist, writer, and author of Ways of Telling: the Work of John
Berger – who discusses John’s work and archive (MP3, 24min
46sec)
John
Berger reads 'The Accordion Player' A short story – unpublished
at the time of this reading and here entitled 'A Jar of Wild Flowers',
but later published under the title 'The Accordion Player' in Once
in Europa – recorded at the ICA on 23 May 1985 (MP3, 66min
26sec)
Links
British Library Press Release An Alpine Acquisition Adventure
John Berger Official site from 2005 London Berger season ‘Here is Where We Meet’
Booker Prize John Berger page
Bloomsbury
The publisher's John Berger page with extracts and reviews
British Library Sound Archive Search for recordings relating to John Berger
Other acquisitions
Find out about other recent archival and manuscript acquisitions