Icon, national treasure and London Library member, Jarvis Cocker, joins us for an intimate gathering in the Reading Room, in conversation with writer Olivia Laing, to discuss his recent Sunday Times bestselling book. 

Good Pop, Bad Pop (‘Like a pop culture Proust’ -Record Collector) is a memoir told through the prism of a loft clear-out and the jumble of objects found in the process. From a Gold Star polycotton shirt to a pack of Wrigley's Extra, from his teenage attempts to write songs to the Sexy Laughs Fantastic Dirty Joke Book, as well as many, many pairs of broken glasses, this is the hard evidence of Jarvis's unique life, Pulp, 20th century pop culture, the good times and the mistakes he'd rather forget. This accumulated debris of a lifetime reveals his creative process - writing and musicianship, performance and ambition, style and stagecraft. 

Jarvis Cocker is a musician and broadcaster. His band, Pulp, which he formed whilst still at school, were one of the most successful UK groups of the 1990s. He presents the award-winning BBC Radio 4 documentary series Wireless Nights and previously he presented Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service on BBC 6Music. He has honorary doctorates from Sheffield Hallam University and Central Saint Martin's School of Art. His lyric collection Mother, Brother, Lover was published by Faber in 2011. Good Pop, Bad Pop is his first work of long-form prose. 

Olivia Laing is a writer and critic. She’s the author of six books, including To the River, The Trip to Echo Spring, and The Lonely City, a novel Crudo, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency and her most recent book is Everybody: A Book About Freedom. She writes on art and culture for the Guardian, Financial Times and New York Times, among many other publications and has written catalogue essays on a variety of contemporary artists, including Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin, Derek Jarman, Wolfgang Tillmans and Chantal Joffe.

Good Pop, Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker and Everybody by Olivia Laing can both be ordered from our partner bookshop Hatchards. 

N.B. This event will take place in person at The London Library in alignment with up-to-date government COVID recommendations. Please see our Event Access and COVID Guidelines before you arrive. Doors (and the bar) open at 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start.

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