Review of 'An Evening With Ben Aaronovitch'

https://thecwa.co.uk/event/an-evening-with-ben-aaronovitch

Ben Aaronovitch is the writer of the popular “Rivers of London” series of fiction books featuring (see my review of the first book here) the adventures of Peter Grant, a young officer in the (London) Metropolitan Police who becomes involved in the branch of the police dealing with the supernatural set in modern day London (and, recently, occasionally abroad).

In this evening, sponsored by Goldsboro Books and held in the upstairs function rooms of Brown's restaurant on St. Martin's Lane, Aaronovitch answered questions and answers. He told the small audience of 60-70 people he is not very good at just speaking though when asked a question he is happy to answer and, frequently, digress…The questions raised here were quite good with Aaronovitch providing a great deal of insight into both himself and his works. A Londoner through and through (born and raised), he sees the Rivers of London series as continuing on for the foreseeable future. There is talk of a small-screen adaptation that he has, thus far, managed to maintain editorial control over but he is not holding his breath as to when it will happen. He talked about how much of his writing is very organic with the characters writing the stories rather than himself and often relying on experts for many of the specific details his works contain. He does very little planning or plotting, but simply puts what comes on the page. After an hour of answering questions from the audience he took a short break before signing copies of his new novella “The October Man” (as well as any other books the audience had brought along with them or purchased from the selection on sale on the evening).

When I had my copy of “The October Man” I told Aaronovitch that I was happy someone was so positive about London in this day and age when many have so much negativity about the city to which he responded scornfully “They can go to Glasgow!”

Aaronovitch is a very amusing speaker, often self deprecating but even when on one of his frequent digressions he still remains interesting, never boring!

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2019-06-11



Browns Covent Garden - Function Rooms

Location: London (England)

Address: 82-84 St Martin's Ln, Covent Garden, London WC2N 4AG ENGLAND

Public Transport: TUBE Leicester Square

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7497 5050

URL: https://www.browns-restaurants.co.uk/restaurants/london/covent-garden/functions

The historic function rooms on the first floor of the popular Brown's restaurant used to be home of the Westminster County Court and have maintained the original decoration. There are a series of rooms accessed by a large staircase from the middle of the ground floor.