Journalist, author, broadcaster
Review of Tom McCarthy’s excellent Booker-nominated novel C from the Sunday Business Post. Literary spats seldom make news headlines, but Gabriel Josipovici’s description of Martin Amis, Ian McEwan , Julian Barnes and Salman Rushdie as ‘‘prep-school boys showing off “, pricked ears far beyond the closeted books world. The former Weidenfeld professor of comparative literature […]
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a bit of a Luddite – no mobile until 2003, no email until same year, used a Walkman every day until 2004 – but I do think that electronic communication has, to an extent, killed the dear old letter. Gone are the days when I used to […]
Director Spike Jonze’s interest in surreal debut novel Light Boxes is a career boost. February is persecuting the town. It has been snowing for 300 days, children are disappearing and all forms of flight are banned. The downtrodden residents are on the verge of revolt – but can they succeed? We might be less than […]
This review of Chloe Schama’s excellent debut book Wild Romance appeared inThe Sunday Business Post on May 30. In February 1861, the Four Courts hosted a trial that gripped the public imagination, not only in Ireland but in Britain also. Thelwall v Yelverton was one of the most explosive cases ever to come before a […]
Review of Philip Pullman’s controversial – and impressively engaging – The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ from latest edition of The Sunday Business Post ‘This is a story.” The back of Philip Pullman’s latest book features no blurbs from writers or flowery descriptions – just these four words in gold capitals. Despite the […]
This review of Peter Baldwin’s insight new book The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe are Alike appeared in The Sunday Business Post a few weeks back: Last summer, US president Barack Obama announced plans to extend medical cover to more than 31 million uninsured Americans. To judge by the reaction of certain […]
Ian Sansom is a true gent, and if you’ve never picked up one of his hilarious novels you should. This feature on Sansom and his latest novel, The Bad Book Affair, appeared in The Sunday Herald on Sunday 24 January. A prominent Northern Irish politician involved in a sensational sex scandal. Accusations of dodgy dealings […]
This interview with the wonderful writer Klas Ostergren appeared in The Irish Examiner back in October. ‘In Sweden, a writer needs to have a sense of humour,’ Klas Östergren smiles, pausing for effect before taking a sip from a pint of continental lager. Now in his mid-50s, the avuncular novelist has been a household name […]
Last week I spoke with Marcus du Sautoy, Oxford mathematician and author of numerous popular science books, for CultureNorthernIreland. As well as proselytizing about science as the new Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science (taking over from Richard Dawkins), he’s a keen footballer, musician and actor…but maths remains his one true love: It […]
I’d a really engaging half-hour chat with Yorkshire’s finest this morning. He talked plenty about Walter Benjamin, Johnny Giles and old Big Head but for legal reasons left most of it off the record. But here’s a few of the things we did talk about for a feature on CultureNorthernIreland ahead of his appearance at […]