On 29 March 2016 English PEN presented another of its popular series of ‘Inspirations’ fundraising events.

1. Tom Wolfe, The Painted Word
2. Sarah Thornton, Seven Days in the Art World
3. Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows
4. Hans Christian Andersen, The Shadow
5. Martin Parr with text by Nicholas Barker, Sign of the Times
6. Kate Fox, Watching the English
7. Philip Larkin, ‘Days’ from The Whitsun Weddings
8. Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
9. Henry Darger, Art and Selected Writings
10. Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life

A short slideshow of images from the event is embedded below, or you can view the images on Flickr.

https://twitter.com/ClaraHeathcock/status/715100337166794752

Several audience members tweeted their reactions to Perry’s talk.  We’ve collected a few into a Storify timeline, here.

Previous ‘Inspirations’ events have featured Linton Kwesi Johnson and Patience Agbabi, Seamus Heaney and Simon Armitage, and former English PEN presidents Lisa Appignanesi and Gillian Slovo.