Tuesday: To the Photographers’ Gallery, for an evening salon hosted by Dr Glaser, at which Dr Rohn and guests discussed and debated the role of the laboratory and scientist in contemporary literature, with edifying refreshments flowing as freely as the conversation.

Oh, I don’t know how those diary columnists do it. Right, yes, anyway. The Cafe Scientifique, or as they say in France, Science Cafe¹ on lab lit.

LabLit is all about encouraging and documenting the use of realistic depictions of science and scientists in realistic fiction, though Jenny herself commented on, and much of the discussion was about, the “shades of grey” – the boundary between science fiction (which, broadly speaking is outwith lablit), and medical science-in-fiction (CSI, Patricia Cornwell) or historical fiction with a science theme (which, broadly speaking are both within lablit).

Jenny explained how she compiled a canon of lablit in and out of print – and there was some surprise that it numbered just 65 or so in total.

Was this the fault of the gatekeepers – the publishers, editors, agents and booksellers, or are they not being written in the first place? Would we want to buy lablit if we knew it existed and could? Apparently so, if Jenny’s experiment with a lablit table in her local Waterstone’s is anything to go by.

And what about the authors? Could they be lacking in experience of science, and so be unable or uncomfortable with attempting to depict it? How many fiction authors have a science background, or have easy access to a scientist? Here, the discussion really got interesting – about the nature of science, and how it can and should be represented in fiction. The image of science (not the reality) is black and white, true and false, proven and not proven, moral and immoral, not the shades of grey that fiction explores so well – and when science is depicted, they are often stereotypical, with “mad scientists” running amok. I cheered (quietly) when Jenny said that misrepresentation was not a problem, but the big gaping hole where scientists should be represented, was a problem. As you might have guessed from some of my previous posts I’m not too fussed about stereotyping or simplifying in the name of artistic or fictional aims. I do care when something is claimed to be fact when it is fiction, whether science or otherwise. The art-types in the audience also provided a bit of a reality-check when they all claimed not to be too fussed by the misrepresentation of art and artists in fiction – they know that reputation and image are slippery, manipulative things.

So where now for lablit? Jenny’s hopeful that the awareness-raising will encourage readers to seek it out. It may never get “its own section in the bookshop”, but with geeks becoming sexy again (at least on film), and self-publishing and other direct-to-reader technologies coming on stream, it may just get that little bit more popular. Or at least, those people that want to find it, can.

¹ The Cafe Scientifique movement started in the UK, and is now incredibly popular around the world. Apparently the name was chosen not to sound posh or elitist, but to reflect its roots in the Café Philosophique movement in France. Some places in the UK, especially out west use “Science Cafe”. It’s kept informal with a brief talk from the speaker to start, a break for chatting, then a lightly-chaired audience discussion with everyone pitching in. I’ve only been to one before, in Edinburgh several years ago, and this seemed to work better – I think it was a mixture of the free beer and the venue being only for us, rather than also trying to act as a cafe for those not attending the event. I’d go again.