Over the years there aren’t many forms of writing Clive James hasn’t turned his hand to.

From poetry and polemics to TV reviews and literary criticism, the Australian has done it all. He will be making what promises to be an entertaining appearance at the Richmond upon Thames Literature Festival next week to discuss two of his many books, Cultural Amnesia, a collection of his essays, and The Blaze of Obscurity, the latest volume in his Unreliable Memoirs series, which looks back on his career as a television presenter.

Ahead of the event, James spoke to Will Gore about these two books, the current state of TV and his addiction to writing.

Will Gore: What have you got planned for your festival appearance?

Clive James: I’ll be talking about world events from the fall of the Roman Empire up until the world-shaking moment when a choice was made between Milibands.

Naturally, it will turn out that a knowledge of my recent books is indispensable to an understanding of cosmic events.

WG: What was the idea behind Cultural Amnesia?

CJ:I never had a single idea for my book Cultural Amnesia. Instead I had hundreds of ideas, and the task was to get them all into one place. How do you connect the historical significance of two important philosophers like Hegel and Tony Curtis? Not long after I finally got the answer, Tony Curtis died.

WG: Is essay-writing a dying art?

I hope it is because there will be all the more opportunity for me. In my experience, people love reading essays as long as you don’t call them essays: call them articles, or broadcasts, or stage appearances, and there will always be a demand.

WG: Did you an enjoy looking back on your TV years when writing The Blaze of Obscurity?

CJ: When I was writing The Blaze of Obscurity I actually had more fun looking back on my TV years than I did when I was living them. There was a lot less fear, and there was a chance to make a bit more money out of all that effort. My ambition is to sell enough books to make a hundredth of one per cent of a BBC executive’s pension.

WG: What do you make of the current state of TV?

CJ: For me, current TV is American boxed sets of DVDs plus occasional doses of Wallander in two different languages. In my show at the festival I will talk about Wallander’s daughter, and whether her personality is the portent of an approaching ice age.

WG: What are you currently reading? 

CJ: I have my head buried in Don Paterson’s wonderfully annoying Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Paterson is such a good poet that it’s a bit unfair he should be a good critic as well. But basically I approve of writers who can work both sides of the fence.

Clive James, RACC Queen Charlotte Hall, November 25, 7.30pm, £10/£8.50,richmondliterature.com