roma tearne @ manchester lit festival
It’s always interesting when a novel is set somewhere you know particularly well, which is why I was intrigued by Sri Lankan author Roma Tearne’s fourth book The Swimmer. Apart from calling Ipswich a city […]
BOOKS
CLAIRE TOMALIN @ MCR Literature Festival
Ever since I interviewed Claire Tomalin for her Pepys book which won the Whitbread Prize, I’ve come to think of her as our pre-eminent literary biographer. I simply can’t think of another author who gets […]
GOLLANCZ’S 50 YEARS OF SCI-FI
Over the past 50 years, publishing house Gollancz has been responsible for some of the most exciting, groundbreaking and best-selling science fiction and fantasy writing, everything from JG Ballard to Philip K Dick. To mark […]
BANIPAL 42
In the last few years I’ve come across loads of excellent writing from the Arab world. Partly because of my job, partly because I think there’s a renaissance going on. The Beirut39 collection of work […]
NICHOLSON BAKER REVIEW
The best thing about reviewing for The Observer – ok, not the best thing, the most amusing thing – is that you suddenly become fair game for the millions of cross commenters who can’t believe […]