Date: Saturday 28 February 2009
Time: 3- 4.30pm
Venue: Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Alistair Beaton, Martin Rowson
Chair: Laurie Taylor

Alistair Beaton is Britain's leading writer of political satire. His comedy King of Hearts was seen at London's Hampstead Theatre in 2007. His film about the Blunkett affair, A Very Social Secretary launched More4 in 2005, and was followed in 2007 by The Trial of Tony Blair starring Robert Lindsay, broadcast on Channel 4. He is the author of the hit West End play Feelgood, directed by Max Stafford-Clark, which won the Evening Standard Best Comedy Award in 2001. Since then it has had successful runs in America, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Portugal, and Hungary. In 2004 he wrote the anti-war satire Follow my Leader (Birmingham Rep & Hampstead Theatre). His translations and adaptations for the theatre include The Government Inspector, (Chichester Festival Theatre & ACT San Francisco), The Arsonists (Royal Court), Die Fledermaus and La Vie Parisienne. He is author of the satirical novel A Planet for the President (Orion Books 2005) and a number of other best-selling humour books, including The Little Book of New Labour Bollocks. His is currently commissioned to write a new political comedy for the Old Vic Theatre and his new satirical radio series will be heard on Radio starting in March 2009.

Martin Rowson is an award-winning political cartoonist whose work appears regularly in The Guardian, The Times, The Independent on Sunday, the Daily Mirror, the Scotsman, Tribune, Index on Censorship and Granta. His previous publications include comic book adaptations of The Waste Land and Tristram Shandy, a novel, Snatches, and a memoir, Stuff. He lives with his wife and their two teenage children in south-east London. His latest book Fuck: The Human Odyssey tells the story of Earth, from the Big Bang, the emergence of life, the death of the dinosaurs, the dawn of civilization, the invention of the wheel, the Trojan War, the Crucifixion, the Fall of Rome, the Black Death, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution, World War One, Nazism, consumerism, the Cold War, 9/11 and beyond to the End of the World, in sixty-seven beautiful, savage, splendidly satirical images, all with only one word in the speech bubbles.

This is part of the LSE Space for Thought Literary Weekend, the LSE's first ever Literary Festival, celebrating the completion of the New Academic Building. It is organised in conjunction with LSE Arts, an extension of the popular Talking Pictures series.

Ticket Information

All public tickets for this event have now been allocated. Anyone unsuccessful in requesting a ticket will be notified.

LSE students can still collect a ticket from the LSESU reception, located on the Ground Floor, East Building, Houghton St.

Returns Queue

There will be a returns queue in operation at this event. Any empty seats left by ticket holder will be filled by those in the returns queue shortly before the start of the event. The returns queue will be situated outside the Wolfson Theatre. Entry via the returns queue is not guaranteed.

Media queries: please contact the Press Office if you would like to reserve a press seat or have a media query about this event, email pressoffice@lse.ac.uk