THE SENTENCE Novel Set for Experimental Public Reading at The Cockpit

Join The Cockpit for the first ever public reading of this unique book: The Sentence by Alistair Fruish is a 46,000 word novel of only one sentence, and it is comprised entirely of words of one syllable.

So it's experimental, sure - but The Sentence is also a deeply moving experience, a grime Under Milkwood for the 21st Century. This is prose that is mind-altering, time-altering and surprisingly beautiful.

The Sentence will be read by a group of performers, including Robin Ince, Alan Cox and Sean McCann.

It will be a non-stop relay-reading with no pause (approx 4 hours). Breakout chaperone escorts will be present to continue the immersion of the listening experience for those who need to hit the bar/have a fag, or try to leave.

Hosted by Daisy Campbell, who brought you The Cockpit's recent show Poetry Can F*ck Media and Money, this will be an unforgettable night on Sunday 15th January 2017, 6:00pm.

Here is Alan Moore's attempt to describe this singular novel: "An intravenous rush of monosyllables that runs according to the clock of an extremely Long Now, Ali Fruish's The Sentence is a breathless and head-first synaptic plunge into austere and yet excitingly fresh territory, effortlessly blending informed social protest, literary experiment and existential science fiction/horror from its first chivvying word to its single and memorable full stop. Compassionate, ingenious and more than modern, this book casts a new and startling light on the idea of doing time. Experience it in a single sitting like its guinea-pig narrator, as a not-so-short sharp shock, and it will stay with you forever like a penitentiary tattoo. A bold, bar-rattling gem."

And that is precisely the opportunity we are giving you - come along and experience it in one sitting!

The Sentence is Alistair's second book, his first published novel, Kiss My ASBO is among the select group of books that have been banned from Guantanamo Bay. Both of Alistair's novels have been influenced by his work in prisons, where he began working in 2001 as a writer-in-residence at HMP Wellingborough.

He is currently writer-in-residence at HMP Leicester - one of the few remaining writers-in-residence who continue to fight for funding and access to prisons across the UK

In a recent interview with The Quietus, Alistair said this about the book: "It concerns a drug that slows down time that is given to a prisoner as a punishment in a near future situation, after a series of "BLACK SWAN" events have changed England quite a lot. The book is simultaneously a hyper-modern horror, an extremely black comedy, urban social realism, a crime story, a satire, a prose poem and "sink estate science fiction" I have tried to turn the derisory use of the word "monosyllabic", to describe a certain perceived lack of eloquence in the so-called underclass, completely on its head."

For more information, visit thecockpit.org.uk/show/the_sentence.

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