The Funny Business of Serious Literature

A joyful look at humour’s power in books with Kaliane Bradley, Jarred McGinnis, Eley Williams and Ben Pope, proving serious literature doesn’t have to be solemn. Join award-winning authors Kaliane Bradley (The Ministry of Time), Jarred McGinnis (The Coward and Eley Williams (The Liar’s Dictionary) alongside comedian and bookseller Ben Pope as they tickle your funny bone and discuss the serious artistic choices at stake when an author employs humour. They dive into the mechanics of comedy: dissecting what exactly is a comic sentence, where irony falls flat and how a single absurd detail in an otherwise realistic story can elevate an entire novel. How can any piece of literature be considered masterful if it ignores the unique and fundamental human experience of laughter? What happens to satire when absurdity has become government policy? Is humour resistance, or is it evasion? Each member of the panel reads a short passage chosen specifically for its humour and then explores why it works.