John Berger From Life: Tom Overton

Tom Overton is at Dragon Hall on Saturday 24 October, talking about his new biography of John Berger, From Life. It's part of the Norwich Book Festival, and Overton will be in conversation with host Emmanuel Iduma. The talk centres on the book itself: an intimate portrait of Berger (1926-2017) that draws on personal memories, conversations and previously unseen archive material, following a career that stretched from art criticism to writing on migration and social justice.

2026 marks the centenary of Berger's birth, and it's a good moment to look back at what he left behind. He was a writer, critic, artist and cultural thinker whose work shaped how we see art, politics and society, and Ways of Seeing remains one of those books that still carries weight. Overton knows the material inside out: he catalogued Berger's archive at the British Library and spent fifteen years following its traces from Moscow to Texas, the Alps to Istanbul. He also worked with Berger on editing Portraits: John Berger on Artists and Landscapes: John Berger on Art.

Beyond the Berger connection, Overton is a writer and curator in his own right. He's written for The Guardian, New Statesman, frieze, London Review of Books and the Paris Review, and he's the Archive Curator of the Barbican Centre. That background comes through in From Life, which is as much about the process of digging through an archive as it is about the man at the centre of it. The talk will be followed by book sales and signing, so you can pick up a copy and get it signed on the day.

It runs from 3pm to 4pm at Dragon Hall, the National Centre for Writing on King Street, and tickets are £12.