Days to go: 9. A chat with Latitude Book Club author Ned Beauman

It’s only a week to go until our second Latitude Book Club, on Monday 9 July, and we are extremely excited to welcome comic and author Dave Gorman, TV regular Nat Luurtsema and rising literary star Ned Beauman along to the Century Club for a night of literary delights!

For your chance to come along (for free) just RSVP to bookclub@latitudefestival.co.uk. Doors open at 7pm.

To get us in the mood we caught up with Ned Beauman, whose debut novel Boxer Beetle was described as "dazzling... impressive...and exhilarating’’, to chat about what to expect from his performance at Latitude, his return to the UK from New York and stealing red wine from Jeff Mills' dressing room.

Don’t miss Ned Beauman on Saturday 14 July in the Literary Arena.

Which latitude are you on right now?

West 25th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan, the western border of a neighbourhood popularly known as 'the Brown Zone' because it's so grimy and nondescript.

What can we expect from your performance at Latitude this year?

Finding a passage to read from my new novel has not been easy because so far every potential candidate is either sexually explicit or unintelligible out of context (or both), so we'll have to hope there's a viable option hiding somewhere.

Are you looking forward to being part of the second Latitude Book Club?

That will be my first fortnight back in London after ten months away so any room full of genial English accents is going to be overwhelming. Also I notice the other two people on the bill are both stand-up comics so I'll make sure to be incredibly stolid and formal to balance that out.

Give us a bit of background on your writing career.

I wrote a novel before Boxer Beetle called The Martyr Street Theatre Company which remains unpublished and dreadful.

Who else is your must-see performance at Latitude this year?

St. Vincent.

If any artist could do a guest appearance with you at Latitude who would that be and why?

HP Lovecraft, because he features heavily in The Teleportation Accident.

Tell us a surprising fact about you

I maintain rigorous, almost fascistic email inbox hygiene.

What’s been your weirdest festival experience?

Stealing a bottle of red wine from Jeff Mills' dressing room at Dissonanze in Rome.

It’s our seventh edition…summarise Latitude in seven words

Having never gone there before, I can't.

Fill in the gap, “Baa baa Latitude sheep, have you any ______ ?"

No.

For the full Literary Arena line-up check out the website and have a peak at all the other amazing acts across 17 arenas.