Category Archives: Brussels

On the shelf: Jack Finney’s Time and Again

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Patrick Lennon

I like browsing in second-hand bookshops. I realize that more and more. I haven’t been to a ‘regular’ bookshop in a long time. It’s not that I don’t like first-hand bookshops (if you can call them that). I do, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Bookshops, Browsing, Brussels, Jack Finney, Novels with pictures in them | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Lady and the Unicorn

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Patrick Lennon

There must be a long tradition of literature inspired by (real) paintings or photographs or other artworks. Two examples from among many others, I guess: W.H. Auden’s poem ‘Musée des Beaux-Arts’ was inspired by Brueghel’s The Fall of Icarus, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Belgium, Brussels, Fiction, Tracy Chevalier | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Patrick Lennon

Jonathan Coe’s Expo 58 tells the story of Thomas Foley, a rather bland British civil servant who works for the Central Office of Information, as he is dispatched to the first World’s Fair since WWII. His role? To keep an … Continue reading →

Posted in Belgium, Brussels, Expo 58, Fiction, Jonathan Coe | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Fiction set in Belgium: a very brief overview

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Patrick Lennon

Reading Teju Cole’s Open City (2011) the other day – part of which is set in Brussels, where the protagonist arrives shortly after the teenager Joe van Holsbeeck was killed for his MP3 player in the city’s central train station … Continue reading →

Posted in Belgium, Brussels, Fiction set in Belgium | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

English books and bookshops in Brussels

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Patrick Lennon

Browsing in a second-hand bookshop, you never know what you’re going to come across, and that’s one of the things I like about them. If you want to sell books or give some away, this is also the place to … Continue reading →

Posted in Belgium, Bookshops, Brussels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Sebald event in Brussels: Austerlitz at the Kaaitheater

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Patrick Lennon

Terry Pitts of Vertigo recently highlighted a number of events being held in North Carolina, London and Berlin to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of W.G. Sebald, who was killed in a car crash ten years ago already, … Continue reading →

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The Brontës in Brussels

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Patrick Lennon

If asked, I would of course have claimed that I knew – naturally! – that the Brontë sisters had spent some time in Brussels at some point in their lives. But if truth be told, I wouldn’t have been able … Continue reading →

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Grand Hotel Europa, a tribute to literary translators

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Patrick Lennon

If you’re in Brussels in early December and if you’re in any way interested in literary translation, then the following event might just be the thing for you. Organized by PETRA, the European Platform for Literary Translation (or “Plateforme européenne … Continue reading →

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Museum of Letters and Manuscripts, Brussels

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Patrick Lennon

A new Museum of Letters and Manuscripts (MLM) opened here in Brussels in late September. Housed in a former clothes shop located in the beautiful Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert or Koninklijke Sint-Hubertusgalerijen in the city centre, this is the Belgian branch … Continue reading →

Posted in Brussels, Museum of Letters and Manuscripts | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Posada Art Books has closed

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Patrick Lennon

I knew it was coming, but I was sad to see that Posada, a bookshop in the centre of Brussels specializing in art books, had permanently closed its doors a few weeks ago already, on 3 May. Named after the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bookshops, Brussels | Tagged , , | 3 Comments