The latest edition of BBC Radio’s Art that Conquered the World series looks at Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, and includes a segment on Russell Hoban’s opera The Second Mrs Kong. The opera, whose libretto Hoban wrote for music by the late Sir Harrison Birtwistle, is seeing a rare re-staging next year in Glasgow. … Continue reading "BBC’s Art that Conquered the World on the Vermeer Girl"
The book collection of the late author Raymond Briggs is on sale through Oxfam, to whom it was donated by his estate. According to this Guardian report, listed among the titles for sale is a first edition of Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker. The collection is on sale at Oxfam in Hove, where the Fungus the … Continue reading "Raymond Briggs’s library including Riddley Walker first edition goes on…
Interesting blog post from The Spirochaete Trail on the two short films Russell Hoban made in collaboration with David Anderson in 1989-90. Find out more about the films and watch them here.
A recent episode of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s podcast Wiser Than Me features legendary songstress Joan Baez. Among the topics that come up is Russell Hoban’s 1962 portrait of her for the cover of Time magazine, where she explains why she hadn’t liked the painting at the time. She says, “At that age, I was way too … Continue reading "Joan Baez comments on Russell Hoban’s portrait of her"
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra has announced its new season of concerts, to include a rare revival of Harrison Birtwistle’s two‑act opera The Second Mrs Kong on 17 April 2027, conducted by Martyn Brabbins. Set in the surreal “World of Shadows”, the opera, whose libretto was written by Russell Hoban, has rarely been staged since its 1994 premiere. Directed by Victoria … Continue reading "Rare…
New to this site is this exquisite recording by Dominic Fox from 2016, inspired by Russell Hoban’s classic 1980 novel Riddley Walker. Horny Boy is the name Riddley’s people give to Herne Bay in the book. The track originally came from Fox’s album Wodwo and is now the middle track of a short release titled … Continue reading "Riddley Walker-inspired song “Horny Boy”"
The first Polish translation of Russell Hoban’s classic 1980 novel Riddley Walker has been published. Piotr Siemion’s 2026 translation is published by Artrage and can be ordered from their site. This brings the total of Riddley Walker translations to three, following in the footsteps of the Catalan Dudo Errante (2005) by David Cruz and María … Continue reading "New Polish translation of Riddley…
A group of performers is aiming to read aloud Russell Hoban’s 1980 classic novel Riddley Walker in its entirety this Saturday, 14 March, in some woodland in east London. The group is led by Greg McLaren and Peter Law, who previously organised a Riddley Walker walk around Canterbury and improvised performance in June 2025. “This … Continue reading "Live reading of Riddley Walker, London, 14 March"
Some recently-acquired scans of the original programmes from Russell Hoban’s 1984/1999 play/collaboration The Carrier Frequency and Michael Birch’s 1995 stage adaptation of Pilgermann have been added to those pages. Additionally, we hope to have some more information on, or content about, The Carrier Frequency soon which will hopefully shed some light on this comparatively little-known … Continue…
Russell Hoban was born on 4 February 1925. Find out about his life here. Since 2002, fans have celebrated his birthday by sharing their favourite quotations from his books in public places and online. This activity was originally known as the Slickman A4 Quotation Event and was partly inspired by Hoban’s classic 1974 comedy Kleinzeit … Continue reading "Celebrating Russell Hoban day 2026"
