This is the Keynote talk given by Benjamin Bateman of Edinburgh University at the Arnold Bennett Members' Day at the Wade Conference Centre, Stoke-on-Trent, on Saturday 27th May (Bennett's birthday) 2023. The talk links to the Centenary of the publication of Arnold Bennett's 1923 novel "Riceyman Steps". The novel won Bennett the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction. This is the oldest literature prize in the UK, begun in 1919, and Bennett was the fifth writer to win the Fiction prize in 1923. Benjamin Bateman is the chief judge of the annual prize - £10,000 - which is still running today. The steps are a real location in Clerkenwell, London, and the Society is inviting members to meet at the steps and take a guided tour of key locations in the novel. For information:
https://www.arnoldbennettsociety.org.uk/