f r a g m e n t s

April, as you may have heard, is the cruellest month. But this April is also a very special month, because it marks 100 years since T. S. Eliot’s modernist epic ‘The Waste Land’ was published. And to celebrate, the Eliot estate has organised a six-day arts festival in this here Unreal City, featuring a host of talks, readings and musical performances across the City of London’s 22 churches, some of which are named in the seminal poem. Acclaimed author Jeanette Winterson will kick things off with a ‘secular sermon’ at Southwark Cathedral on Thursday April 7, while 2022’s T. S. Eliot prizewinner Joelle Taylor is set to do a poetry reading and in convo event at St Olave’s Church on Friday April 8. Other highlights include poetry readings by Tamsin Grieg, Toby Jones and Imogen Stubbs, a performance by Incognito Gospel Choir and, of course, a reading of ‘The Waste Land’ itself, via a filmed installation playing at All Hallows Church throughout the festival. Book a ticket for any of these events for a good night, sweet ladies! Sorry.