Writers in residence 1/ THE school of Life

Writers in Residence Many businesses have lost the ability to see themselves properly. they have grown too large or geographically widespread, they are divided into too many specialisms; they have lost sight of their story. In response, we have designed a unique service entitled Writers in Residence. a writer of great merit is sent to spend a Suitable amount of time looking deep into your organisation, from top to bottom, across divisions, and in response, produces a beautiful, evocative and revealing literary portrait of your business, the people who work in it and the customers who drive it. We will put the book together on your behalf in a highly attractive package and distribute it to customers, employees and stakeholders, helping to communicate the identity of your business in an original and distinctive literary way. Each book comes illustrated with colour images produced by high profile photographers, including from the Magnum Agency, ensuring that each work is delivered as a properly integrated photographic and literary portrait. So far the Writers in Residence programme has yielded a number of works, all exceptional collaborations between businesses and writers. This brochure allows you to sample three of these books and discover what our writers and photographers could do for your organisation. 2 The US Navy, Chris Steele-Perkins 1

CONTENTS Heathrow: Alain de Botton & Richard Baker 5 Alcatel-Lucent: Douglas Coupland & Susan Meiselas 15 The US Navy: Geoff Dyer & Chris Steele-Perkins 25 The IMF: Liaquat Ahamed & Eli Reed 35

Heathrow: Alain de Botton & Richard Baker 4 5

Alain de Botton In the summer of 2009, the Swiss-British writer Alain de Botton was appointed Writer in Residence at Heathrow airport. He studied the airport s infrastructure, workforce and processes and wrote a 150-page study of Britain s largest airport: Heathrow was published to acclaim in 22 countries. In a world full of chaos and irregularity, the terminal seemed a worthy and intriguing refuge of elegance and logic. RICHARD BAKER Richard baker dedicated himself to photography in his mid-twenties, studying Documentary Photography at Newport College of Art where he discovered the alluring words colour and reportage. Taken on by the fledgling Agency Katz Pictures in 1988, as well as a spell with The Observer newspaper, he was also a LATER member of the noted Independent Photographers Group (IPG). 7

Alcatel-Lucent Douglas Coupland & Susan Meiselas 14 15

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland achieved world-wide fame with his novel-essay Generation X. Since then, in books like Microserfs, Girlfriend in a Coma, Jpod and All Families are Psychotic, Coupland has secured a position as a remarkable chronicler of the inner lives and mentalities of modern individuals making their way through the complex, dizzying and sometimes maddening technological age. Thanks to prolonged exposure to the Internet, most anybody older than thirty can t help but to have noticed profound shifts in the way their brains soak up the experience of their daily lives. Susan Meiselas Susan Meiselas s first major photographic essay focused on the lives of women doing striptease at New England country fairs and was published as Carnival Strippers in 1976. That same year she joined Magnum Photos. Meiselas was editor and contributor to El Salvador: The Work of Thirty Photographers, and edited Chile From Within featuring work by photographers living under the Pinochet regime. 17

The US Navy: Geoff Dyer & Chris Steele-Perkins 24 25

GEOFF DYER Geoff Dyer is the author of four novels: Paris Trance, The Search, The Colour of Memory, and most recently, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi; two collections of essays, Anglo-English Attitudes and Working the Room; and five genre-defying titles: But Beautiful, The Missing of the Somme, Out of Sheer Rage, Yoga For People Who Can t Be Bothered To Do It and The Ongoing Moment. I m interested in the sheer scale of the ship, the technology of the latest weaponry and how this interacts with the people who operate it. Chris Steele-Perkins Chris Steele-Perkins started to work as a freelance photographer in 1971, working extensively in British areas of urban poverty and subcultures. In 1975, his work with EXIT, a collective dealing with social problems, culminated in the book Survival Programmes. He joined the Paris-based Viva agency in 1976 and published his first solo book, The Teds, in 1979. 26 27

The IMF: Liaquat Ahamed & Eli Reed 34 35

Liaquat Ahamed Liaquat Ahamed is the author of the critically acclaimed best-seller, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, about the lead up to the Great Depression of 1929-1932. The book won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for History, the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Gold Medal for 2010, and the 2009 Financial Times-Goldman Sachs Best Business Book of the Year Award. For the world s bankers and financiers, it is not April that is the cruelest month, but September. For that is month when most financial crises hit, and the world s stock markets have their biggest tumbles. ELI REED Eli Reed began photographing as a freelancer in 1970. He became a full member of Magnum in 1988 and that same year, photographed the effects of poverty on America s children for the documentary Poorest in the Land of Plenty. His documentary Getting Out featured at the 1993 New York Film Festival and was honored by the 1996 Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. 36 37

44 45 Alcatel-Lucent, Susan Meiselas

Writers in Residence is an initiative FROM The School of Life. Founded in 2008, The School of Life is a new kind of cultural enterprise that is dedicated to exploring good ideas for everyday life. We are now launching a range of services geared particularly to businesses. These offerings are held together by a common mission: to help organisations succeed financially by enhancing the insight, wisdom and resilience of their owners, employees and customers. For more information please contact: Morgwn Rimel Director The School of Life 70 Marchmont Street London WC1N 1AB morgwn@theschooloflife.com +44 (0)7833 206 830 Theschooloflife.com 46 47 Heathrow, Richard Baker