5×15 is a new series of talks that pull together 5 speakers from different disciplines, each given 15 minutes to tell their story. The speakers include writers, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists and many more, making for a diverse and inspiring evening each time.

For more information, visit 5×15stories.com

Faber author and Faber Academy tutor Louise Doughty recounts the story of her Romany roots at 5×15 on Sep 27 at the Union Chapel in London.

On Friday 14 May the Faber archive, based at the company’s new home on Great Russell Street, opened its doors to the public for the very first time, as part of an exclusive competition with Museums at Night and Culture24.

Robert Brown, archivist

The winners, chosen at random, were Anna Tuckett, Claire King, Helen Cox, Josie Kehoe, Simon Quicke and Victoria Linde – a fantastic group of book lovers and Faber enthusiasts!

Faber’s archivist, Robert Brown began the evening with a virtual tour of Faber’s original office on Russell Square. Along the way, we were introduced to Morgan (the original Faber cat), watched Geoffrey Faber chair a boardroom meeting in a film from 1951, and saw T. S. Eliot’s office in a series of photographs taken on the day he died.

Robert then uncovered key items from the Faber treasure chest, including Eliot’s first letter to a young W. H. Auden, an early drawing of  Old Possum and an amusing postcard sent by Philip Larkin whilst he was on holiday. Amongst the book reports and other Faber riches, Robert told the winners unknown stories from Faber’s history – from fire watching in Bloomsbury during the Blitz to recovering William Golding’s Lord of the Flies from the rejection pile.

Faber New Poets Joe Dunthorne and Heather Phillipson ended the evening with a wonderful poetry reading. Alongside a selection of their own poetry, they read a range of other Faber poets such as Charles Simic, John Berryman, Simon Armitage and Don Paterson.

Read some of the winner’s blogs:

Foxyhlc | Backwards in Heels | Inside Books

For more information on the Faber archive visit our website and to discover more about Faber’s design history visit the Faber flickr site.

Around the Archive table