National Park City – Walking Week Talk

John Rogers illustration by Liam O'Farrell
Painting by Liam O’Farrell https://www.liamofarrell.com/2024/05/john-rogers-talk/

Back in early May I had the pleasure of giving a talk about my new book, Welcome to New London – journeys and encounters in the post-Olympic city for London National Park City as part of Walking Week. The venue was a disused chain coffee shop on Fleet Street, just yards away from where the River Fleet flows beneath Farringdon Road. It was a great evening.

The wonderful artist Liam O’Farrell attended and created the fantastic painting you see above (ok, I’m biased) and wrote a blog post about the event and the book. I’m enormously grateful to Liam for both. You can read Liam’s post here and visit his online gallery of London artworks here.

National Park City event Fleet Street
National Park City event Fleet Street

Video: In conversation with Iain Sinclair at Hatchards Piccadilly

Here’s the full unedited video of my wonderful conversation with Iain Sinclair at Hatchards Piccadilly on 25th January. The event was to discuss my new book, Welcome to New London – journeys and encounters in the post-Olympic city but we wandered as we’re wont to do and even had a chat about Iain’s latest book Pariah Genius.

Buy Welcome to New London: journeys and encounters in the post-Olympic city from Hatchards here

Iain Sinclair’s new book Pariah Genius is published on 25th April 2024

Event at Bookseller Crow with Travis Elborough 28th March 2024

Bookseller Crow event John Rogers and Travis Elborough

Chuffed to bits to be doing an event at Bookseller Crow bookshop in Crystal Palace on 28th March with the brilliant Travis Elborough.
Get your tickets here: https://booksellercrow.co.uk/event/26190/?instance_id=338

Welcome to New London is not just a book about a city; it’s a vivid, personal account of a city in flux, where the author’s passion for exploration and his commitment to bearing witness to change converge.

Our host for the evening, Travis Elborough, is described by The Guardian as ‘one of the country’s finest pop culture historians’. Travis has been a freelance writer, author, broadcaster and cultural commentator for over two decades now and his well-loved books include Wish You Were Here: England on Sea, The Long-Player Goodbye, a hymn to vinyl records that inspired the BBC4 documentary When Albums Ruled the World, Through the Looking Glasses: The Spectacular Life of Spectacles and Atlas of Vanishing Places, winner of Edward Stanford Travel Book Award in 2020. He is a regular host and cherished author at our Crow events. Tickets £5 (include a drink) https://booksellercrow.co.uk/shop/john-rogers-with-travis-elborough-event/

Hatchards Piccadilly with Iain Sinclair

John Rogers and Iain Sinclair at Hatchards Piccadilly
photo by Johanne Adams https://www.instagram.com/johanneadams/

What an amazing night at Hatchards Bookshop on Piccadilly with the great Iain Sinclair talking about my book, Welcome to New London and getting a preview of Iain’s forthcoming publication, Pariah Genius.

John Rogers and Iain Sinclair at Hatchards Piccadilly
John Rogers and Iain Sinclair at Hatchards Piccadilly
John Rogers and Iain Sinclair at Hatchards Piccadilly
John Rogers at Hatchards Piccadilly
Welcome to New London and This Other London at Hathcards Piccadilly

After the talk and book signing, I wandered with a friend up to the Old Coffee House in Soho to remind myself of the glory of Brodie’s Beer (brewed in Leyton), sinking a couple of pints of Piccadilly Pale. It seemed the most appropriate place to delve into Iain’s ‘fictionalised biography of the afterlife of the photographer John Deakin‘.
The Buxton reference in the Truman’s mirror nicely echoed the discussion with Iain over the influence of the Buxton family in East London and their mention in Welcome to New London. Iain also recalled his time working at Truman’s with the sculptor and author Brian Catling in the 1970s.

The Old Coffee House Soho
Pariah Genius by Iain Sinclair on the bar of a Soho pub

Welcome to New London signing at Book Bodega, Ramsgate

Book Bodega, Ramsgate
Book Bodega, Harbour Street, Ramsgate
Book Bodega signing with John Rogers, Ramsgate
Welcome to New London book signing
Book Bodega signing with John Rogers, Ramsgate
Love this desk they provided for the signing
Book Bodega signing with John Rogers, Ramsgate
Cathy Rogers, Bob and Roberta Smith, me, Heidi, Dad, Jessica Voorsanger

What wonderful Sunday afternoon at Book Bodega in Ramsgate signing copies of Welcome to New London – journeys and encounters in the post-Olympic city. It’s a real gem of a bookshop and this was in fact my first signing outside London. So lovely to share the event with friends and family and meet regular viewers of my YouTube channel.

Ramsgate Harbour

After the book signing we walked above Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour and settled in the Churchill Tavern for a couple of pints of Canterbury Ale nestled on a corner that’d been sketched by Vincent Van Gogh during his time in the town.

Thanks so much to everyone who came.

There are signed copies of Welcome to New London available from Book Bodega.