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Luke Kennard

@luukekennnard

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Writer. Lectures at University of Birmingham. Latest books, Black Bag and The Book of Jonah available below:

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BLACK BAG - The hardest role to play is just being yourself with the lights on..Invisibility feels like freedom until you realise no one can find you anymore.

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The 2026 Booker Prize shortlisted LUKE KENNARD and ASHLEY HICKSON-LOVENCE talking with MICHAEL DONKOR. A really engaging chat about masculinity, which was JOYOUS. Really loved the fun! Factor of this event. Joviality... and humour!

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What a nice way to spend a few hours. Wimbledon Bookfest is probably my closest book festival, just 15 minutes on the train, so it's been great to pop along to a few sessions.

I've just seen Luke Kennard and Ashley Hickson-Lovence talk about their latest books, Black Bag and How to Fall Apart. I loved Black Bag and saw Luke speak last week as part of the Booker shortlist panel at Cheltenham. However, this was even better. I don't think I've been to an author talk where the audience has laughed so much, and that's a testament to both authors, who spoke brilliantly about their books while being incredibly self-deprecating and funny. I hadn't heard of Ashley's book, but the way he performed it, and I really mean performed, made me buy it as soon as the session was over to get it signed.

Yesterday was a full-on Irish evening, starting with Louise Kennedy and finishing with Sebastian Barry. Louise was fascinating. It’s incredible to think that she was a chef for so long and had never intended to become a writer until a friend dragged her to a writing evening. Thank god she did. I really loved Stations, and hearing how so much of the London of the 1980s portrayed in her book was drawn from her own experience gives it even more meaning.

Sebastian Barry was also excellent, incredibly philosophical about writing, and you can tell how much he loves the characters from his new book, The Newer World. He read and sang from his book. A masterful performance. So much so that I had to ask him afterwards if he narrates his audiobooks, which unfortunately he doesn't. Such a shame, because he took his own writing to another level.

A really good book festival, and if you live anywhere near Wimbledon, I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

#wimbledonbookfest #lukekennedy #ashleyhicksonlovence #louisekennedy #sebastianbarry

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⚫️ Black Bag ⚫️

What starts out as a strange concept, being employed to sit in this lecture theater wearing a black bag and not to speak to anyone, turns into a brilliant novel, a bold take on modern life, our relationships, how we struggle with privacy in a digital age, how being anonymous is incredibly liberating, and the way we can open up and be free without the pressures of being recognised. It is a book as funny as it sounds and definitely had me laughing out loud. And yet it is far deeper than the silliness it suggests, and delves deep into the topics of masculinity, beliefs, principals and relationships. A brilliant read and one I am glad to have picked up.

#bookreview #bookerprize #blackbag #bagthisbook #booksbooksbooks

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Some brilliant conversations coming up on Tom’s Book Club. 📚🎙️

I’m so excited to share these interviews with you over the next few weeks, with some wonderful writers talking about their books, their lives and the ideas behind their work.

Here’s a taste of what’s to come:

📖 Luke Kennard on Black Bag
📖 Min Jin Lee on American Hagwon
📖 M John Harrison on The End of Everything
📖 Jonathan Coe on Lessons in Harmony
📖 Tessa Hadley on Alone With a Book
📖 Sasha Debevec-McKenney on Joy is My Middle Name
📖 Rebecca Perry on May We Feed The King
📖 Daniel Kraus on Angel Down

And there’s more still to be announced…

I can’t wait to bring you these conversations. More details coming soon!

🎧 Follow Tom’s Book Club so you don’t miss an episode.

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Voting for the Listening Books Members' Choice Award 2026 is now OPEN! 🎉

Over the coming weeks, we'll be profiling each of the audiobooks that could win. Today's nominee spotlight is Black Bag written and narrated by @luukekennnard.

A satirical comedy about a penniless and out-of-work actor who picks up a job working for Dr Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. How will Dr Blend's students react to someone zipped into on oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of autumn term lectures?

Black Bag is available to stream or download from our website or the Libby app 📚

Vote for your favourite to win this year's Members' Choice Award through the form in your member's email! If you would like to take part and aren't yet a member, visit the link in our bio.

Stay tuned for more nominee spotlights coming up soon to learn about all of our incredible shortlisted audiobooks 💜

#MCAward2026 #Audiobooks #Award #Bookstagram

ID: A purple Listening Books Members' Choice Award 2026 graphic featuring the shortlisted audiobook Black Bag by Luke Kennard. The book cover is centred with white text reading 'Shortlisted' above and 'Audiobook' below.

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Black bag by @luukekennnard is in my opinion the modern fight club for today’s social media society. An unnamed narrator who’s a failing actor acquires a job in which he is dressed as in a black leather bag in the lecture hall. This is based on a 60s experiment of exposure over time students would at first appear hostile to black bag then over time become to like and form a friendship. Much like Dr Justine who establishes a sexual relationship with Luke Kennards Black bag, the scenes are incredibly well written and I’ll admit I got a little flustered, I still need to know if she made a gentleman she met cum over his cakes!

The narrator craves fame and the irony is he gains fame through the erosion of his identity, I reflected on my own mental health during this novel and at times wanted to zip myself up in a black bag to escape myself. This novel incredible, weird but also has alot to say on today’s society of men. I give this five stars for sure and if there is any justice in the world will go onto win the Booker Prize! #blackbag #bookerprize #bookreview #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks

P.S thank you to my awesome freind @cindywithmultitudes for recommending this book to a booker prize avoider!!

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I maintain that it is easy to make someone cry while reading a book, but to make someone laugh while reading it, is supremely difficult. Few authors can pull this off. After a long time, i laughed while reading, actually laughed till i had tears in my eyes. And that’s what Luke Kennard has been able to achieve in Black Bag.

The premise is simple. A Professor of Psychology, is running an experiment with his students and needs an actor to wear a black bag from head to toe and sit in his class for the whole semester. The Black bag should not talk or in any way communicate with anyone on campus. Net net, the Black bag should have no personality. An out of work actor auditions for this role, and because he can fit into the Black Bag custom made for this experiment, he lands the role.

The book then moves between the protagonist’s life when he is the Black Bag and when he is not. What happens when our identity is stripped away and we are reduced to an in identifiable, undistinguishable, unremarkable entity? Do we struggle with it or do we get comfortable in the anonymity this offers? How do people around us process this and react to this?

From a professor who wants to perform a sexual experiment on the Black Bag, to a social media influencer who wants to find ways to monetise the idea of Black Bag, we see all shades of human behaviour and motivation. While the undercurrents are serious, the laughs keep coming. I definitely think this book should make it to the Booker Shortlist.

While reading this book, one thought that kept nagging me was, half the population is some countries literally exists in public as Black Bag…..Is the experiment so outlandish after all?

Dress from @saffron_threads
[Booker prize, Black Bag, Luke Kennard, Shortlist, Longlist, Booker Predictions, books i read, bookish reels, original content, digital content, book influencer, digital influencer, authors, reading, titles, new titles]

#bookerprize #bookreviews #fypシ❤️💞❤️ #bookinfluencer #bookreviewer

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Looking ahead to November, we have even more events fast approaching. Don’t forget to have a look at our chalkboards outside and pick up an events leaflet when you pop by!

#edinburghevents #toppingandcompany

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Little round up from @bhamlitfest — an absolutely incredible week both working and taking part in the festival 🎤

So much love for BLF & @vocebooks & @writingwestmids for proving that this city’s literary scene can be the envy of the world when it wants to be. Special shout out to @clivejudd for curating an absolute heater.

On a personal note, the festival always felt like the last of the major TRAV promo, and while I’ve still got a few things planned, more than anything I just want to bash out book two, now, so hence the last slide. Don’t mind all the red, it happens 🟥

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Just under a month to go until the Booker Prize 2026 winner is announced. Have you read any of the books on the shortlist? What’s your pick to win? Let us know in the comments.

We’re big Douglas Stuart fans here at Mostly. 🤭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿📚🏆

#bookerprize #mostlybooks #abingdon @thebookerprizes

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No, I don't have a problem. You have a problem...

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