Voices of the Great War, London School of Economics

Honouring the centennial anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, best-selling novelist Sebastian Faulks will chair a discussion of Voices of the Great War. A panel of four esteemed writers joins him to discuss the historical and contemporary significance of the most meaningful war literature.  

Northern Irish poet and winner of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, Michael Longley reads from a rich poetic canon spanning Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Isaac Rosenberg. Louise Graves, acclaimed author of wartime romance My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You, examines Rebecca West’s The Return of the Soldier. Playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker draws upon Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy in an exploration of the trauma wrought by modern warfare. And novelist and poet Tobias Hill will focus on Alain Fournier’s Les Grand Meaulnes. This impressive program makes for an illuminating evening, shedding a literary light upon the history of warfare.