Luke Kennard visits Foyles to celebrate his Booker longlisted novel 'Black Bag' with Ben Pester.

A penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a job working for Dr Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. How will Dr Blend’s students react to someone zipped into on oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of autumn term lectures?

The role, eagerly accepted, soon has unexpected consequences. A professor of post-humanism develops research questions of her own, in particular can you love someone secreted away inside a black bag? Meanwhile, the actor’s childhood friend and flatmate forms a vision for monetising this new situation…

Luke Kennard is a poet and writer of fiction who was born in Kingston Upon Thames in 1981. He won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2005 and his first collection of prose poems The Solex Brothers was published later that year. He has published several poetry collections, including The Harbour Beyond the Movie (shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection); A Lost Expression; Cain (shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize); and Notes on the Sonnets (winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection); and The Book of Jonah. He is also the author of two novels: The Transition (longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize), and The Answer to Everything. He is also a professor at the University of Birmingham.

Ben Pester is the author of the short story collections Am I in the Right Place? and Sail Away Land, as well as the novel The Expansion Project, which was shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards and the Goldsmiths Prize. He lives in London with his family.

The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing.

Tickets: £10 General Admission, £8 Foyalty Member / £22 Book and Ticket, inc. a copy of Black Bag (RRP £18.99)

Venue: The Auditorium (Level 6) at Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road*

*Please note that the Auditorium at Foyles is fully accessible from the Ground floor lifts.

Description supplied by the event organiser.