Fifteen years makes a good full stop. The End (for now).
Dearest Salonista,
You, better than anybody, know all about the importance of endings - good stories need good endings. We’ve all sighed through a book that went on for fifty pages too long. Or wished for just one more chapter. Endings are not easy. In life, we rarely get to choose them. But I feel that now - after fifteen amazing years and over a hundred fabulous events with hundreds of incredible writers and a pioneering podcast and a spin-off TV show - is the right time to say: The End.
And, most importantly, thank you.
The Big Scottish Book Club Returns!
The Big Scottish Book Club Returns! The Big Scottish Book Club returns with an Edinburgh Festival Special! Damian's joined by Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead, Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton and Judy Murray.
Damian Barr's Literary Salon At Edinburgh International Book Festival
Damian Barr's Literary Salon At Edinburgh International Book Festival
Shrew Books offering 20% discount to our Salonistas!
This month's featured bookshop is Shrew books in Fowey, Cornwall and the shops owner, Kate Longman is offering our Salonistsas 20% off any purchase during June!
Zachary Zane in conversation with Uli Lenart on Salon Insta Live
Did you catch our Insta Live Special with Zachary Zane, author of Boyslut: A Memoir and Manifesto?
If you missed it, you can watch now on our Instagram page. This Insta Live event includes a frank, sex-positive discussion and contains sexual language.
Welcome to our new site!
Welcome!
We thought it was time to rearrange the books on our shelves and plump some cushions.
So we've got a new logo (I think we're supposed to say 'visual identity'). We've zested our colours. And we've conjured a new website to better reflect all the stuff we do to bring new books to you - our Book of the Week podcast, our Backlist podcast and our live Salons online and in-person! You can lose yourself in over 250 interviews or browse our shelves at bookshop.org You can get tickets, sign up for our newsletter or nose around on our YouTube channel.
We're bringing you heart-felt recommendations, inspiring Bibliotherapy and all the insight we can muster.
Bringing you all the stories since 2008!
Episode One Of ‘Whose Truth Is It Anyway?’ On BBC4
In this new three part series, Damian grapples with the slippery idea of truth in literature - from memoir to fiction to writing that occupies all the areas in between. What does it mean for a story to be true - and is the idea of truth changing? Who gets to decide whose truths make it into onto the page and into our bookshelves?
Salon at The London Library: Monica Heisey and a world premiere from Jenni Fagan. Hosted by Damian Barr.
Damian Barr’s Literary Salon returns to The London Library on Thursday May 25th, with Monica Heisey and a world premiere from Jenni Fagan. Hosted by Damian Barr.
We’re back in person and online for our first Salon of 2023! With two bold and brilliant writers.