NeuNoir presents Algernon Blackwood's 'The Listener'

NeuNoir are bringing Algernon Blackwood's The Listener to Birmingham Back to Backs on Sunday 1 November, from 17:30 to 18:30. It's a reading of the supernatural drama, with NeuNoir regular Richard Usher on the book. This is their sixth Halloween production, so it fits right into the season.

The Listener is told through a lodger's diary entries over three months. It follows a struggling writer who, after a year of hunting for affordable accommodation, signs a year-long lease in a quiet London cul-de-sac. He finds the real price of the rooms is far higher than expected: his initial elation turns to unease and then to fear as he wonders whether he's truly alone in his cold, isolated, ramshackle dwelling. It's a story that draws on Blackwood's own experiences of loneliness and poverty, and it touches on things that still ring true: isolation, wellbeing and the housing crisis.

Blackwood himself is worth knowing. Born in 1869, he was one of the most influential and popular supernatural fiction writers of the 20th century. He was a writer, storyteller, playwright, paranormal investigator and broadcaster, and his work featured in many early BBC radio and television programmes. Unlike a lot of his peers, he wasn't a sceptic; he claimed all his ghostly stories were 'more or less autobiographical'.

The reading is at Court 15 Books (61-63 Hurst Street) in Birmingham, running from 17:30 to 18:30 on Sunday 1 November. Tickets are £10 for everyone.