Jim Crace is definitely in my all time ‘top ten’ of writers because he writes beautiful, simple prose. Better still, he manages to do this in relatively slim volumes of work. Being Dead is a strangely uplifting book, despite the fact that the middle-aged couple in it are killed while having sex near a beach. There is no magical solution or afterlife to appease the reader, instead we see the bodies decompose and nature take its course. But it’s beautiful because in death their bodies are still touching, they are somehow still connected, albeit symbolically. The book then starts to go backwards and we learn that thirty years earlier they’d had sex in the same place and were hoping to relive/capture the moment. This is the power of the book, the way the couple are resurrected through these memories; we only exist in the now. I wonder if this was an influence on Jon McGregor’s Even the Dogs which similarly uses a body as a means to piece together a life and link characters together.

I was meant to do a phone interview with Crace as a preview to Nottingham City Libraries Festival of Reading but I’ve just not had time. LeftLion has just been put to bed and will be out on the streets on Friday and it’s taken up more of my time than usual. Consequently, I decided that I’d turn up to Crace’s reading at City Library on Monday and do it face-to-face as a preview for future events.

I’ve been reading loads of his books in preparation (I’m such an obsessive reader that now when I interview someone, I try and read everything they’ve written, rather than just the latest book. It’s seriously becoming an unhealthy addiction) but the event had been cancelled because only four tickets had been sold.

This was worrying on many levels: Is it a reflection on Nottingham that no one was interested in a writer who’s scooped numerous prestigious awards? Or are people that skint, they couldn’t afford the modest £3 entry fee? Or was it down to PR and marketing? The council is already stretched for staff and resources so this is more than believable. In this, local hacks such as myself should have done more to support the event (this blog being my first Hell Mary). But most frightening of all is the consideration that libraries simply no longer have the same presence or cultural value in the community. They are not, rather oddly, places we associate with public readings. These happen at glamorous places like festivals and city centre bars.

What makes this most frustrating is that Crace said in 2008 he would stop writing in three years time. The suggestion being that by then he’d have said his piece and didn’t want to fall into the Updike mould of producing inferior work in his later years that got published on reputation, rather than merit. Whatever the reason, the lack of interest is as damning as any blow delivered by the Cleggeron. So without further ado, please do the following. If you haven’t read a Crace before, support your library and borrow some of his books. I recommend Continent and Quarantine. Two, get your arses down to the next event they are planning before the budget for these gets slashed as well. Don’t let libraries become a distant memory.

Tuesday 24 May, 11am, FREE
Brighter Days by Vida Theodosia Harris
St. Ann’s Library
Join Nottingham writer Vida Theodosia Harris for a talk on Brighter Days, an inspirational book written after the tragic loss of her daughter in the Marchioness disaster in 1989.
Contact: stanns_library@nottinghamcity.gov.uk / 0115 915 6941.

Tuesday 24 May, 2pm – 3pm, FREE
Player’s Past
Nottingham Central Library
Join us for a viewing of ‘Player’s Past’, a film featuring former employees of John Player and Sons sharing memories of their working lives.
Contact: kam.harte@nottinghamcity.gov.uk / 0115 915 2828.

The Festival of Reading has events running up until July