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The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading with Sam Leith, a Mr B’s Event

3 September @ 7:00 pm 9:00 pm

The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading with Sam Leith

Mr B’s is delighted to welcome Sam Leith to Mr B’s to discuss his incredible new book, The Haunted Wood, a pioneering history of children’s literature and a love letter to the authors that have shaped many of our lives as readers.

About the book:

Do you remember the first time you fell in love with a book?

Maybe you tumbled down a rabbit hole, flew out of your bedroom window, or found the key to a secret garden. And in the silence of that moment, your whole life changed forever.

The stories we read as children are indelible in our memories; reaching far beyond our childhoods, they are a window into our deepest hopes, joys and anxieties. They reveal our past – collective and individual, remembered and imagined – and invite us to dream up different futures.

In a pioneering history of the children’s literary canon, The Haunted Wood reveals the magic of childhood reading, from the ancient tales of Aesop, through the Victorian and Edwardian golden age to new classics. Excavating the complex lives of our most beloved writers, Sam Leith offers a humane portrait of a genre and celebrates the power of books to inspire and console entire generations.

‘A marvel’ Philip Pullman

‘It’s a joy for anyone who cares or wonders why we have children’s literature.’ Michael Rosen

‘Written with such love, The Haunted Wood is an utter joy.’ Lucy Mangan

About the author:

Sam Leith has been literary editor of The Spectator since 2014, where he hosts their weekly Book Club podcast. He has been a judge of every major UK literary award including the Man Booker and Baillie Gifford prizes, and has been a columnist for the Guardian, FT, Prospect, Evening Standard, Spears, Daily Telegraph and Wall Street Journal Europe. His previous books include You Talkin’ To Me?: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Trump and Beyond, and The Coincidence Engine.

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