Performances
Selected audio and video clips:
Sun Valley Writer's Conference
August 24, 2008
Sun Valley, Idaho
Proceedings of the First Meeting of the World Aphorism Organization
March 14, 2008
Goodenough College, London, under the sponsorship of the University of London’s Institute of Philosophy
Waterstone’s Bookshop, Gower Street, London
March 13, 2008
Excerpts from a juggling aphorist...
2007
The Foreign Policy Association
Oct. 10, 2007
The Lester S. Morse, Jr. Lecture: Aphorisms and Diplomacy
LIVE from the NYPL
Oct. 9, 2007
Juggling Aphorisms (edited)
2006
The Falmouth Festival of Literature & Arts
Oct. 7, 2006
How Benjamin Franklin begat Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce...
The Ilkley Literature Festival
Oct. 1, 2006
Hear about aphorists Stanislaw Jerzy Lec and Nicolas Chamfort
Ways With Words Festival, Dartington Hall
July 8, 2006
Listen to some of the tricky questions from the audience and my attempted answers
Swindon Festival of Literature
May 2, 2006
See the Five Laws of the Aphorism explained — while juggling!
2002
The Institute of Contemporary Arts
Feb. 26, 2002
A panel discussion focused on some of the themes addressed in my earlier book The Body Electric: An Anatomy of the New Bionic Senses.
Ways With Words Festival, Dartington Hall
July 8, 2006
These are excerpts from a performance I gave at the Ways With Words festival at Dartington Hall, a glorious medieval building set in equally glorious surroundings on the banks of the river Dart in Devon, southwest England. During this performance, I roamed through the audience and asked people to pick an aphorism from a globe. They then read the aphorism aloud, and I talked a bit about the aphorism, the person who wrote it and how the saying has affected my life. More than half of this particular event consisted of a lively dialogue with the audience, who were incredibly warm, inquisitive and funny.
Thanks to Kay Dunbar and Stephen Bristow, organizers of the wonderful Ways With Words festivals. Thanks also to Rob Waite for mastering the sound on the night.
Do I write aphorisms? I thought you'd never ask! (0:01:42)
MP3 (1.5Mb)
My response to the gentleman who doesn't like aphorisms (0:04:06)
MP3 (3.9Mb)
The Whole Shebang (1:08:56)
MP3 (75Mb)
or listen to the streamed version
(get free Real Player here)
