What unites Derek Jarman, Paul Nash, Patti Smith, Bono and the creators of Warhammer 40k? The answer: William Blake. Philip Hoare is our guide to his enduring legacy.

To understand how one man inspired 200 years of art, poetry and protest, we must first understand the visionary genius of the man himself. Baillie Gifford Prize-winning author Philip Hoare has tried to do just that. 

Now he joins us for a unique journey through Blake’s exhilarating, multifaceted and sometimes contradictory personality and work. It is a journey of both past and future, of the natural world and metaphysical realms, of the human and the animal and the spiritual. He will explore how Blake fired up 20th century artists, filmmakers, poets, writers and musicians with his radical promise of absolute freedom – and how his art still has the power to create positive change, even in the seemingly “endless night” of our world today. 

Tickets to this online event are free for members of How To +.

Praise for Philip Hoare’s William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love:

‘Queer in all senses of the word’ – Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boys

‘This wild, dreaming leviathan of a book is undoubtedly Hoare’s masterpiece. Who but the leading visionary of English letters could take on Blake, and find in him such riches? It is a mesmerising tapestry, intricate, strange and very queer, that ranges through time and space to create both a loving, wonderstruck portrait of the artist and a map of the universe of enchantment, terror and revolt that he opened for us all’ – Olivia Laing, Author of The Garden Against Time