The Epic of Gilgamesh is an extraordinary 4,000-year-old Babylonian poem, lost for two thousand years but miraculously preserved on clay tablets. The oldest great work of literature to survive from the ancient world, it tells the heroic career of King Gilgamesh and his quest for immortality. In this talk author and translator Andrew George explores the archaeology of the poem’s discovery, the decipherment of the cuneiform text and the process of making a poem out of the broken fragments. He will also discuss the poem’s timeless message about life, death and what it means to be human.

The lecture will be introduced by poet Jenny Lewis. Afterwards the author Michael Schmidt will launch his new book, Gilgamesh: the Life of A Poem. At the end of the evening there will be an opportunity to buy signed copies of Michael Schmidt’s book and Andrew George’s Penguin Epic of Gilgamesh.