In an age where literature often feels confined to the pages of books and the walls of academia, London Literary Tours emerges as a vibrant antidote. Led by passionate guides Mike Carter and Cindy Lawford, this unique venture invites literary enthusiasts to explore the city through the eyes of its greatest writers, weaving together their lives, inspirations and the very streets they walked. With a blend of storytelling, performance and immersive experiences, London Literary Tours offer participants an opportunity to connect deeply with literature, revealing the rich tapestry of history and emotion behind each narrative. As Mike and Cindy share poignant anecdotes and dramatic readings, they illuminate the intricate relationship between place and prose, transforming the exploration of literature into an engaging, living experience.
How do you go about researching the tours? Is it an evolving process?
Yes, it’s definitely evolving. We’re always trying to situate the place with a book or an experience in the writer’s life. The ideal situation is when a book reflects an experience the author had, like with Graham Greene. We structure the tour around that. Biographies, memoirs, collections of letters—all of that helps, and we try to read everything we can. Though, it’s impossible to read it all, so we split up the reading between us.
Even choosing your name, London Literary Tours, was there any doubt?
At first we thought, is literary too highbrow? There were no other tours using that word. Everyone was doing book tours or author tours, but we thought, no, we’re going with literary. We didn’t want to be highbrow, but we did want to present people with ideas and content they wouldn’t usually encounter. Something intellectually challenging, but also accessible.
Is there a particular book that, once you understood its physical context, changed your impression of it?
People on the tours often mention that visiting the places changes their understanding of the book. For me, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf stands out. It’s amazing to be in Tavistock Square and say this is where the ideas for the novel came to Woolf. She documented how walking around the square sparked those ideas, and you can sense it when you’re there. It’s incredible how being in the place can unlock the meaning behind certain characters or scenes. Greene is also a great example of a writer embedding real-life places into his stories. In The Human Factor, for instance, Colonel Daintry lives in a flat that Greene himself lived in. It’s an imagined version of his own experience.
How do you incorporate the theatrics into the tours? Is it something you consciously developed?
We always knew there would be a theatrical element. Working off each other naturally brings out some theatrics, and we also wanted to do live performances of poems or extracts from books. Sometimes we even hand out scripts to the groups as the material is so rich that every time we perform it, it feels new. You can do a poem angry, funny, or whatever mood fits the moment.
That sounds like it keeps the tours fresh for you as well
We’ve done the Bloomsbury tour three times in one week, and we thought we’d get bored. But we never do, because there are infinite ways to approach the material. We surprise each other with new interpretations, and that keeps it exciting.
What’s your process for memorising poetry? Do you feel you’ve become more connected to the material?
Learning the poems by heart has been one of the unexpected joys. There’s something intimate about really knowing a poem. We tell a story on the Bloomsbury tour about a woman named Alida Klementaski who memorised a poem while walking across Hampstead Heath. Three years later, she recited it perfectly to the poem’s publisher. That kind of deep connection to the material—it sticks with you.
Has memorising poetry changed your view on how we engage with literature today?
We don’t memorise things anymore because we think, “Well, we can just Google it.” But memorising poetry gives you this intimate ownership of the words. I used to dread it, but now I can’t wait to learn the next poem.
You mentioned feeling like you’re in street theatre during the tours at times. What’s that like?
Sometimes we slip into this street theatre vibe, and then return to a more traditional tour format. The interaction with the audience keeps it dynamic.
Considering how exciting the lives of these literary figures were, do you think the same excitement exists today in the literary scene? Who will people be doing tours on 20-40 years from now?
That’s an interesting question. Of course, people’s lives today are just as colourful, but they’re more guarded. There’s more politeness now. Back then, they got away with so much more, and there was a whole different societal context—different politics, sexual politics, prejudices. Many of the authors we deal with now, like Virginia Woolf, had some problematic views by today’s standards. But we think it’s important to understand these people fully, with all their greatness and their flaws.
How do you deal with the complexities of these authors, especially in today’s climate?
We bring these writers to life with all their contradictions. Virginia Woolf, for example, has been criticized for being anti-Semitic, homophobic, and a snob. While some of those accusations have merit, it’s more complex than that. We have to present these figures in all their humanity. And, frankly, there’s this tension in academia where literature becomes inaccessible to the average reader. That’s not what these writers wanted. Woolf would be horrified to know that she’s now mostly read in universities, even though a lot of people still read her outside of academic circles.
Has the decline in reading rates impacted your tours?
We really don’t know, but we do hear from teachers that reading rates are dropping, and kids today struggle to focus. They can’t read the same books they could just five years ago. So in that sense, what we’re doing feels more important now. We want to show people that literature is fun, real, and worth engaging with.
You must meet some fascinating people on your tours.
We meet people from all over the world, of all ages, with a passion for literature. One family from Peru came because the father, a famous investigative journalist, loved Dickens, who famously gave dramatic readings of his stories. They wanted ideas for how authors in Peru could give more exciting public readings.”
That must be so inspiring for you.
It is, we’ve even had people tell us that our tour feels like a walking salon. Someone else said it’s counter-cultural, which made us laugh at the idea that a tour about long-dead writers could be counter-cultural. But in a way, it is. We’re old-school in a lot of ways, and we believe in the importance of live experiences. Some people have asked us why we don’t film the tours or write a book. But it is what it is. You have to be in the place and experience it live for it to really resonate.