The London Bookbarge has been converted into a venue as well as a bookshop, and its inaugural book event is with the author Iain Sinclair. This is a chance to meet this outstanding London author in a beautiful setting inside this world-famous bookshop on the Regent’s Canal.

Sinclair is the award-winning writer of numerous well-loved and critically acclaimed books on London, including The Last London, Lights Out for the Territory, London Orbital and London Overground.

In his latest book The Gold Machine, Iain and his daughter travel through Peru, guided by – and in reaction to – an ill-fated colonial expedition led by his great-grandfather, Arthur Sinclair. The incursions of Catholic bounty hunters and Adventist missionaries are contrasted with today’s ecotourists and short-cut vision seekers. The family history of a displaced Scottish highlander fades into the brutal reality of a major land grab. The historic thirst for gold and the establishment of sprawling coffee plantations leave terrible wounds on virgin territory.

What might once have been portrayed as an intrepid adventure is transformed into a shocking tale of the violated rights of indigenous people, secret dealings between London finance and Peruvian government, and the collusion of the church in colonial expansion. In Sinclair’s haunting prose, no place escapes its past, and nor can we.

Iain will be in conversation with Jonathan Privett, co-founder of the London Bookbarge, avid lifelong reader and curator of this celebrated bookshop.

This event is supported by The Camden New Journal

Photo of Iain: Alex Macnaughton