BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Housmans Bookshop - ECPv6.16.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Housmans Bookshop X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://housmans.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Housmans Bookshop REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20250330T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20251026T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20260329T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20261025T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20270328T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20271031T010000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260704T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260704T203000 DTSTAMP:20260615T103824 CREATED:20260604T113508Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260604T113510Z UID:79314-1783191600-1783197000@housmans.com SUMMARY:DREAMS AND GHOSTS WITH DOMINIC PETTMAN & EVERYDAY ANALYSIS DESCRIPTION:Join us for a conversation between two of the most exciting theorists of the digital realm\, Dominic Pettman and Alfie Bown \n\n\n\nWe are delighted to welcome our friends Everyday Analysis back to Housmans for what promises to be another stimulating reflection on the agonies and aporias of contemporary culture. \n\n\n\nThis time we have Dominic Pettman joining us\, to talk about some of the recurrent ideas that animate\, his recent publications\, The Forgetting of Dreams: Selected Oneiric Residues (published by Everyday Analysis) and Ghosting: On Disappearance (Polity\, 2025). \n\n\n\nDominic is emerging as one of our major theorists of the digital world. His work is especially accomplished at interrogating modes of disconnection\, loneliness and alienation that could only really exist now; in an epoch almost entirely mediated through a digital reflection of itself. \n\n\n\nblurbs: \n\n\n\nThe Forgetting of Dreams: Selected Oneiric Residues \n\n\n\nWe process our lives through riddles\, mysteries\, ciphers\, and enigmas – but we hesitate to share these with friends and family. In times gone by\, as for Freud\, dreams were considered a key to cosmic secrets. Today\, in all sorts of ways – both subtle and not – we are discouraged from sharing the content of our dreams\, unless we happen to be indulging in that most anachronistic ritual: lying prostrate on the psychoanalyst’s couch. Anywhere else\, an anecdote that begins\, “Last night I dreamed . . .” is usually met with a sigh and a defensive glazing of the eyes. In our over-burdened world\, any sharing of dreams is always already perceived as over-sharing. Contrary to this\, Pettman argues – the more we share tales of our isolated nocturnal journeys\, the better chance we have to understand the topography of our collective conundrum.  \n\n\n\nGhosting: On Disappearance \n\n\n\nAbandonment is as old as time\, but ghosting is a modern twist on this ancient experience. It translates this age-old phenomenon into our modern world of screens\, delete buttons and blocking options. Ghosting is not only an unpleasant experience\, or cowardly act\, but a symptom of our increasingly spectral – that is\, mediated and virtual – relationship to the world. The overabundance of new modes of communication has invited an almost infinite number of contacts and conversations. At the same time\, it has also offered an unprecedented opportunity for ignoring messages from others. And just as we invented the car crash when we invented automobiles\, we also encouraged ghosting when we created the internet. \n\n\n\nGhosting creates an empty space in our minds: a space faithfully tracing the silhouette of the one who ghosted us. But unlike traditional ghosts\, today’s ghosters simply disappear\, leaving behind a form of haunting that is closer to mourning: mourning for someone who is not in fact dead. In putting a kind of preemptive mourning into our everyday affairs\, ghosting tells us much about the current human relationship – or non-relationship – to a shared sense of mortality\, purpose\, and spirit.   \n\n\n\nThis book – the first sustained analysis of ghosting – traces the source of this vexed experience to\, and through\, our current media ecology\, technological networks\, political landscape\, collective psychology\, romantic mantras\, and deep sense of social neglect. \n\n\n\nDominic will be joined by the brilliant Alfie Bown\, Senior Lecturer in Digital Media Culture and Technology at King’s College London. Alfie is the author of numerous brilliant interventions into the worlds of digital studies\, Marxism and psychoanalysis. His most recent books are Alfie Bown\, Post-Comedy (Polity\, 2024) and Dream Lovers: Capitalism and the Gamification of Relationships (London: Pluto\, 2022). \n\n\n\nThis is a free event\, but you can reserve copies of the books through our ticket portal. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/dreams-and-ghosts-with-dominic-pettman-everyday-analysis/ CATEGORIES:In Store,Literary Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/preeti-insta-16.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260711T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260711T203000 DTSTAMP:20260615T103824 CREATED:20260503T142854Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260601T160617Z UID:78511-1783796400-1783801800@housmans.com SUMMARY:BOOK LAUNCH: KILL BILLIONAIRE with ANDERS LUSTGARTEN DESCRIPTION:Kill Billionaire: The Riotous Revenge Caper You’ve Been Waiting for\n\n\n\nKill Billionaire is the best sort of political thriller: gripping\, revenge fueled and unapologetically radical in its politics\, discussing climate change and the elite. \n\n\n\nWhen her home is destroyed in wildfires\, fourteen-year-old Australian outback genius Kayla Connolly decides to hunt down the culprits of climate change: billionaires. She teams up with Mr P\, a giant ex-soldier from Tuvalu whose home is being flooded by rising sea levels. Together\, they find ingenious ways to kill a property developer building on protected wetlands and a mining company CEO poisoning the earth with toxic chemicals. They also find an unexpected ally in Nancy\, a wealthy elderly woman with a shocking past. \n\n\n\nThe trio’s mission soon develops a life of its own\, taking them first to California to crack billionaire tech bros and then to London for superrich oil executives\, spawning a global movement along the way. In pursuit are the FBI and Detective Sergeant Kate Anderson of Scotland Yard\, but Kate is having doubts about whether Kayla is even in the wrong. Will Kayla be able to stay ahead of the game and pull off one final\, remarkable hit? \n\n\n\nWe are delighted that Anders Lustgarten has chosen Housmans as the launch pad for this propulsive\, daringly political work of thriller fiction! \n\n\n\nHe will conversation for around 45 minutes to an hour\, followed by a q&a and signing session. \n\n\n\nAs always\, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com\, and a free ticket will be made available. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’ your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/book-launch-kill-billionaire-with-anders-lustgarten/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/9781784746391-jacket-large.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260722T184500 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260722T210000 DTSTAMP:20260615T103824 CREATED:20260604T143226Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260604T143228Z UID:79333-1784745900-1784754000@housmans.com SUMMARY:BOOK LAUNCH: FLOYDS GONE by Jacob A. Smith DESCRIPTION:Come celebrate the launch of a brilliant and daring new short story collection published by eidolon ink \n\n\n\nJacob A. Smith is launching his debut story collection\, Floyds Gone\, at Housmans Bookshop! Please join us on July 22nd to celebrate the release of his book. All author and publisher profits from the evening go to Medical Aid for Palestinians and Lifeshare. Free entry + doors open at 6:45pm \n\n\n\n“When you have them pixelated\, magic occurs. You become the imagination of the technology. Like you’re watching the technology dream.” \n\n\n\n‘A man plans to disappear after his partner becomes pregnant. Films play on loop in a countryside home filled with waste. A violent video appears on an online server where people plot and rate hoaxes. An employee stalks his boss to protect her from a threatening man. Pictures of a burning building are nominated for a major prize. An empty boat returns to shore and the photographer on board has disappeared. \n\n\n\nThese are some of the unsettling\, vivid images that accumulate throughout Floyds Gone\, Jacob A. Smith’s debut story collection. Inhabiting the uncertain space between images\, dreams and reality\, Smith’s stories probe the strange data of our mediated lives. Built around moments of arrival\, departure\, and change\, and a recurring name that may refer to more than one man\, the stories of Floyds Gone are all powerful screenshots of life lived in a world of multiplying images and vanishing selfhood.’ \n\n\n\nPlease note this is an externally organised event. Any inquiries should be made to ‘hello@eidolon.ink’ \n\n\n\nBook a free ticket below\, or reserve a copy of the book. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’ your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/book-launch-floyds-gone-by-jacob-a-smith/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Untitled-9.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260729T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260729T203000 DTSTAMP:20260615T103824 CREATED:20260603T143903Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260603T155503Z UID:79289-1785351600-1785357000@housmans.com SUMMARY:BOOK LAUNCH: INTERNATIONAL FREAK ROBIN FARQUHARSON AND THE DREAM OF PSYCHEDELIC REVOLT DESCRIPTION:M. SYD ROSEN AND OWEN HATHERLEY DISCUSS THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF COUNTERCULTURAL ICON ROBIN FARQUHARSON \n\n\n\n‘Rosen is an intergenerational talent. That is\, he seems to move effortlessly across decades\, from dark matter to illumination; gleaning\, recovering\, challenging\, making new.’ \n\n\n\n Iain Sinclair \n\n\n\nBorn in 1930 into a privileged South African family\, Robin Farquharson was part of a new wave of intellectuals tasked with reimagining society in the wake of World War II—until a phone call from God brought everything crashing down. \n\n\n\nUnder the gaze of the secret police and his own mounting paranoia\, Farquharson fled to Swinging London and tried to reinvent himself as a countercultural guru. Along the way\, he helped to have South Africa banned from the Olympic Games\, authored an unclassifiable memoir of queer street life\, and climbed to the top of the mysterious White Panther Party. Then\, just days after founding the pioneering Mental Patients Union\, flames ripped through his home and Farquharson was gone. \n\n\n\nDrawing on meticulous archival research and extensive new interviews\, International Freak marshals an extraordinary cast of characters in order to tell Farquharson’s story for the first time. Equal parts experimental biography\, social history\, and psychedelic true crime\, this is a portrait of a singular man and the world he sought desperately to transform. \n\n\n\nWe are delighted to welcome M. Syd Rosen (author of this utterly compelling biography) and Owen Hatherley to Housmans to discuss the life of this truly remarkable hero of counter cultural Britain. \n\n\n\nAs always\, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com\, and a free ticket will be made available. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’ your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/book-launch-international-freak-robin-farquharson-and-the-dream-of-psychedelic-revolt/ CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Book Talk ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/International-Freak-23.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR