William Klein in conversation with Alan Yentob, Kings Place

William Klein has several strings to his bow, with painting, photojournalism and filmmaking among them, but he is best known as a world-class fashion photographer whose groundbreaking images were a mainstay in Vogue magazine during the 1950s and '60s.

Born to an impoverished Jewish family in New York in 1928, Klein became a true American in Paris when he left to study at the Sorbonne before training as a painter under Fernand Léger, no less.

An abstract artist who turned to fashion photography for financial reasons rather than creative ones, Klein’s lack of reverence for the industry was perhaps his greatest asset. His signature approach to shoots was ironic and often satirical, bringing a fresh quirkiness and spontaneity to the staid posing of the day.

With no formal training as a photographer, Klein’s techniques were similarly unorthodox, and in the prim and rather formal 1950s, all of this earned him a reputation as a subversive and a revolutionary; it also made people take notice of his work, and resulted in some iconic images and an enduring legacy.

Add to that his pioneering photo essays that captured the vital, kinetic energy of city street life and his considerable work in feature, documentary and commercial films, and Klein will have plenty to talk about in his conversation with the BBC’s Alan Yentob on 23 February – a lifetime of rule breaking, image making and story telling, in fact.

The event is part of Jewish Book Week, an international festival running from 22 February to 2 March at Kings Place that celebrates Jewish writing, thinking, history and art. Through a plethora of talks, debates, performances and workshops, this 62-year-old festival aims to explore the ideas, people and choices that have impacted on our cultural landscape. The programme is packed full of unusual gems like this one, so hop to it and load up your shopping basket.