The Lowry Lounge, 2016

The Bluecoat's seventh annual celebration of the life and work of Wirral-born Malcolm Lowry (1909-1957).

22 October 2016

The Bluecoat's seventh annual celebration of the life and work of Wirral-born Malcolm Lowry (1909-1957) started with a walking tour of 'consular Liverpool', led by Colin Dilnot, visiting the city's phantom consulates in homage to the lead character in Lowry's famous book, Under the Volcano, an ex-British Consul. At the Bluecoat the day continued with a screening of one of Lowry's favourite films, talks and readings, and a third book launch in collaboration with University of Ottawa Press.

For this year's Lounge Colin Dilnot led a walking tour of some of Liverpool’s phantom consulates, stopping at each site to reveal their relevance to Lowry and to read short extracts from his work. With reference to Lowry's problematic relationship to border crossings, paticipants on the walk were issued with a passport which was stamped at each stop.
The 2016 Lounge finished with a toast to Lowry and screening of one of his favourite films, Mad Love (1935), the American horror adaptation of Maurice Renard's story The Hands of Orlac, directed by Karl Freund and starring Peter Lorre. The poster shown here is for the film's Spanish version.