Awake! - A Talk by Mark Vernon

The psychotherapist, writer and former Anglican priest Mark Vernon discusses his new book Awake! with the Dean of Southwark.

In the 200 years since Blake’s death, the visionary artist, poet and writer has become a household name, often beloved. Yet many struggle to comprehend his kaleidoscopic ideas; how they speak to human longings and the challenges of living in anxious times. A new book by writer and psychotherapist Mark Vernon, Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination provides a fresh route into Blake. Exploring this brilliant thinker’s passionate writings, arresting artworks and fascinating life, Vernon illuminates Blake’s vivid message. Like us, he lived in a tumultuous era of war, discontent, rapid technological change, and human estrangement from nature. He exposed the dark sides of political fervour and social moralising. And he also conversed with prophets and angels, and was powerfully Christian and religious. If we take this seriously—not easy, in secular times—then Blake can help us to unlock the transformative power of imagination.

"The best overall study of Blake I have encountered in a very long time,” says Rowan Williams.

Mark Vernon is is a London-based psychotherapist, writer and former Anglican priest. A keen podcaster and a columnist with The Idler, he speaks regularly at festivals and on the BBC. He has a PhD in Philosophy, and degrees in Theology and Physics. His previous book topics include Dante’s Divine Comedy, Owen Barfield and the mystical significance of Jesus and Christianity.

The Very Rev’d Dr Mark Oakley is Dean of Southwark. Formerly Dean of St John’s College, Cambridge, and Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, he is an author of several books on poetry and theology. He was awarded the international Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing for his book The Splash of Words: Believing in Poetry, and the Lanfranc Award by the Archbishop of Canterbury for education and scholarship. He has worked at the Actors’ Church in Covent Garden as Rector and has a strong interest in theatre. He is also Patron of Tell MAMA, monitoring Islamophobic hate crime, and Ambassador for Stop Hate UK. In 2025 he was appointed Whitelands Professorial Fellow in Christian Theology and Contemporary Issues by Roehampton University.

This talk is in-person only and won't be streamed or recorded. Doors to the Cathedral Library will open at 6.15pm.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Southwark Cathedral