In 2004, Jon McGregor set out for a small field hut in the Antarctic, as part of a writing residency supported by the British Antarctic Survey. He never made it there, and spent the next seventeen years trying to write a novel about the experience. 

In Lean Fall Stand, a team of Antarctic researchers face a crisis on the ice. When one of them comes home with his language shattered, his wife faces a crisis at home.

Jon McGregor invites you to join him in the Deception Island hut to hear about his journey south and the limits of language. He’ll read fragments from his novel, show you the slides from his journey, and put on a brew. Just remember to wrap up warm.  

‘Jon McGregor has crafted a unique narrative, encompassing frozen wastes & altered interior landscapes. The most gripping piece of writing I’ve read in a long time: Sit. Read. Applaud.’

Jarvis Cocker

‘Beautiful…his writing makes every heartbeat register.’ 

Hilary Mantel

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About Jon McGregor

Jon McGregor is the author of five novels and two story collections. He is the winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literature Prize and Costa Novel Prize and has been longlisted for the Booker Prize three times. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Nottingham, where he edits The Letters Page, a literary journal in letters. He grew up in Norfolk.  

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See Lean Fall Stand /_ |

Norwich Science Festival

Wednesday 27 October – 12.40pm, 1.40pm, 5.40pm, 6.40pm
Thursday 28 October – 12.40pm, 1.40pm, 5.40pm, 6.40pm
Deception Island hut, Millennium Plain, Norwich, NR2 1TF
£5 – booking required
Run-time; 20 minutes

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Lean Fall Stand /_ | is presented in association with 4th Estate