The Liquid Club is a monthly discussion group which invites collective thinking and drives the development of Liverpool Biennial 2020.

In our previous session, we read Ursula Le Guin’s “The Fisherwoman’s Daughter” (1988), a semi-biographical essay reflecting on the challenges of being a writer and a mother. The text led us to a wider discussion about the conditions for artistic practice and the insufficient consideration of children in the art world. We broadened this perspective and thought in a wider sense about parenthood and what it means to combine care and artistic production.

For October’s Liquid Club, we have invited researcher and lecturer Samuel Solnick to present a selection of short stories. We will be looking at a combination of fiction and digital storytelling to explore interlinked issues around globalisation, natural disasters, media, neo-colonialism and the relationship between economy and ecology. We will read acclaimed authors Herman Melville, Margaret Atwood and Ben Okri and experience the interactive documentary After the Storm.

TEXTS AND LINKS

A short excerpt from Herman Melville’s 1849 novel Redburn describing life for American sailors on the Liverpool docks – download here.

A one-page piece of Margaret Atwood flash fiction that moves from myth to science fiction to track the rise and fall of civilisation – read here.

A magical-realist short story from Ben Okri about the Nigerian oil industry – download here.

An interactive documentary about loss and living through the aftermath of a natural disaster – view here.

ABOUT SAM SOLNICK

Sam Solnick is a lecturer in English at the University of Liverpool, specialising in 20th and 21st-century literature, particularly representations of ecology and environmentalism in the arts. He is Co-Director of the University’s Literature and Science Hub and a contributing editor at The White Review.

THE LIQUID CLUB

Held on the first Wednesday of every month, The Liquid Club is a mobile platform activated at different venues across Liverpool. On each occasion, reading material including texts, films and music are distributed in advance online. It is free and open to all. 

Please note spaces are limited and advance booking is required.