‘Did I have a grievance? Most of us, without looking far, could find something that had harmed us, and oppressed us, and unfairly held us back. I tried not to dwell on it, thought it healthier not to, though I’d lived my short life so far in a chaos of privilege and prejudice.’

One of the finest writers of our age, Alan Hollinghurst launches his first novel in seven years. Our Evenings is a dark, compelling and wickedly funny account of Dave Win’s life from his time as a scholarship pupil at a local boarding school, through his early loves, his life in London and on the road with an experimental theatre company, to a late-life affair which transforms his sixties. A portrait of modern England, the novel is an acutely observed tale of race and class, theatre and sexuality, love and the cruel shock of violence.

Alan is the award-winning author of seven novels including The Swimming Pool Library, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, The Folding Star, winner of the James Tait Memorial Prize, and The Line of Beauty, winner of the Booker Prize. Hosted by poet and novelist Andrew McMillan (physical, playtime, Pity). Sponsored by The Midland Manchester.