British travel writer Thomas Bird will spend an evening at The Readeasy reading from Harmony Express: Travels by Train Through China, his account of crossing China by rail during the 2010s. The book moves through stations, sleeper cars and half-remembered meals, catching a country mid-shift without pretending to explain it all. Bird’s writing, shaped by years contributing to BBC Travel, CNN Travel and the South China Morning Post, favours observation over proclamation. Signed copies will be available on the night for those who like their travel writing tangible. The setting suits the tone. The Readeasy runs as a relaxed monthly meet-up where writers test new work, swap nerves and read aloud without hierarchy. Short fiction, poems, fragments and memoirs all pass the mic. Experience does not matter. You can read, you can listen, or you can sit quietly and let other people’s journeys do the travelling for you.
December 18. Free. Queen Bee, 7.30pm-9.30pm