One of my favourite novels of 2021 was Sarvat Hasin's underrated The Giant Dark, a feminist rock n roll retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Here's my piece for Books of the Year in Review 31

Isabel Waidner's Goldsmiths Prize-winning Sterling Karat Gold is a thrilling, seditious headrush of a novel. Here's my review in the Guardian

I reviewed Address Book, Neil Bartlett's masterly collection of queer short stories, in the Literary Review

Here's my take on Joshua Cohen's wincingly funny, counter-factual take on the family history of Israel's longest-serving prime minister, The Netanyahus, in the TLS

 I wrote about Jarred McGinnis's brutally funny and honest debut novel The Coward in the Guardian

My second radio play, The Rival, will go out on Sunday 27th June at 7.30pm on Radio 3. It's about how Shakespeare came to write the Sonnets, and has a stellar cast plus great production, direction and sound design from Jeremy Mortimer and the Reduced Listening team. It will be available on Iplayer for 30 days. Do please listen here

David Peace's immersive and compelling Tokyo Trilogy reaches its conclusion with Tokyo Redux, perhaps the best of the three novels Here's my piece in the Literary Review

Alan Judd's A Fine Madness is a taut and ingenious thriller about the mysterious death of Christopher Marlowe in a rooming-house brawl in 1593. Here's my review in the Spectator

 I reviewed Sam Byers' fearless and unsettling new novel, Come Join Our Disease, in the Spectator

Here's my review of Louise Kennedy's superbly accomplished debut collection of short stories, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac, in the Guardian

Kamel Daoud's follow up to The Meursault Investigation is an exhilarating novel about language, fathers and post-colonial Algeria. Here's my review of Zabor or the Psalms in the TLS

Here's my review of Lisa Harding's intense and unnerving second novel, Bright Burning Things, in the Guardian

Alan Warner's ninth novel, Kitchenly 434, is set in the country house of a 70s rock star, and is by turns bizarre, funny and compulsively readable. Here's my review in the Literary Review 

I wrote about the difficulties of putting Paris on the page for the London Magazine. Who wrote the city the best? From Balzac to Ernaux. Read here

I reviewed Jo Lloyd's formidable first collection of short stories The Earth, Thy Great Exchequer, Ready Lies in the Guardian 

Looking forward to talking about Jacob's Advice at Jewish Book Week on 2nd March 2021 at 12pm. The event will be chaired by the excellent Marina Benjamin, and we'll be discussing literary Paris, family, identity, plus the resurgence of the far right and antisemitism. Book an online ticket here

Delighted that my essay on therapy and the therapeutic value of art is included in Trauma, an anthology of writing on art and mental health, published today by indie press Dodo Ink. 

Contributions include essays by Marina Benjamin, Monique Roffey, Venetia Welby, Susannah Crossman, Thom Cuell, Sam Mills, James Miller, Catherine Taylor, Seraphina Madsen, Neil Griffiths, Rowena Macdonald, Naomi Frisby, Alex Pheby, and legendary filmmaker David Lynch. Order a copy here

A pleasure to pick twelve favourite short stories for Jonathan Gibbs's first Personal Anthology of 2021, including recent work by Jamel Brinkley, Chris Power, Ben Halls, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Ayelet Tsabari, and Mia Alvar, plus classics by Kawabata, Wharton, Bellow, Maupassant & more. Subscribe to the Tiny Letter and read here