Nick Cave audiobook and bookshop tour for memoir revealed by Canongate

Canongate is to release an audio edition of Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan’s Faith, Hope and Carnage, directed and produced by Bafta-nominated directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.

A meditation on faith, art, music, freedom, grief and love, Faith, Hope and Carnage was created from more than 40 hours of intimate conversations with O’Hagan, who works as a journalist. The book draws on Cave’s life, from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work ethic and his dramatic transformation in recent years.

To celebrate the book’s launch, Cave and O’Hagan will be touring the UK, signing copies of the books in branches of Waterstones in locations including Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham and London, as well as appearing at events throughout the autumn. The pair will also appear at Rough Trade Bristol for a signing, with tickets for the event including a hardback copy of the book.

The audiobook was recorded by Adam Devenney and Michael Pender at Red Apple Creative in London, and narrated by Cave and O’Hagan. Featuring 16 musical codas and elements from the "Carnage", "Skeleton Tree" and "Ghosteen" albums, it also includes an exclusive 12-minute conversation between Cave and O’Hagan about the production of the recording.

Forsyth and Pollard work across film, installation, performance, sound, documentary and TV drama. Their debut feature film, "20,000 Days on Earth", co-written by and starring Cave, won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival, and nominations from Bafta and the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2015, they received the Douglas Hickox Award for best debut director from the British Independent Film Awards.

“Working with Nick over the years has had a fundamental impact on who we are, on how we are," they said. "For this audiobook we wanted to give you a direct experience — a seat at the table with Nick and Seán — two incandescent minds trying to just figure things out. Intimate, adventurous, faltering and fearless, these conversations will open your mind and heal your heart.”

The audiobook will publish simultaneously with the hardback and e-book edition in the UK and US on 20th September 2022, and is available for pre-order via all major and independent retailers.