Matthew De Abaitua

Matthew De Abaitua is an author interested in sci-fi and camping. His We Are Camping tour through Port Eliot’s campsite will explore the pleasures and promise of camping, and unveil the secrets of the occult radical scouting movement, The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift. He’ll also be running How Not To Write in The Idler Academy, exploring why he wrote such terrible poetry as a teenager. Learn from his mistakes and become a better writer…

After studying under Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain at the University of East Anglia, Matthew worked as Will Self’s literary assistant. He then became Deputy Editor at The Idler magazine and remains Editor at Large. He has contributed widely to The Guardian and The Observer and wrote and presented a documentary series on science fiction for Channel 4. His debut novel, The Red Men (2007) was shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award in 2008 and the film rights have been acquired by Shynola.

Matthew is currently pursuing his interest in camping by researching and writing a non-fiction book, We Are Camping. The book includes an essay on the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift – a fascinating proto-hippy movement who regarded themselves as an elite who would take over and run society along pacifist lines. They were investigated by the Special Branch, fought Moseley’s fascists on the streets, attracted interest from DH Lawrence, JD Salinger and HG Wells, and metamorphosed into a movement that burnt an effigy of the Governor of the Bank of England in the City of London (how their anti-banking stance resonates now!) Members included novelists, artists, former suffragettes and photographer Angus McBean (who photographed Vivian Leigh and the Beatles).

Find out more about this intriguing movement as Matthew guides you around the campsite at Port Eliot Festival this year…

www.harrybravado.com
www.cathandmathcamping.com
Twitter page: http://twitter.com/MDeAbaitua

[The Red Men is] “An accomplished, quirky first novel, set in London and the North, about the creation of artificial life, mingling science with the occult.”
The Times

“Sumptuously written, with prose that glitters with a dark lustre like a Damien Hirst fly collage. Intricately plotted, and a satirical point as sharp and accurate as the scalpel of a brain surgeon: De Abaitua operates on the smiling face of the present to reveal the grimacing skull of the future.”
Will Self

Links:

Video:

Science Fiction UK, written and presented by Matthew De Abaitua:

Buy tickets online