Delighted to have a new short story published by Fictive Dream. Read A Donky's Take (or How the Two Renés Quarrelled) - my take on Gogol's How the Two Ivans Quarrelled - here

An October Substack from me: an essay on writing about places you've never visited. Read Into the Blue Again: Writing America here

I talked to novelist and poet Tim Relf about my forthcoming novel, Time Being, for Salt Books' House Magazine. Out September 2026. Read the interview here

 I reviewed Mr Outside, Caleb Klaces' moving second novel of fathers, sons and dementia in the TLS

A September Substack essay from me on the last day of the month. Read What I Love There: On Literary Subjectivity for free here

I reviewed Benjamin Wood's lyrical, Hardyesque Booker Prize-nominated novella, Seascraper, in the Guardian

A late-August Substack from me: an essay about writing my second novel, Jacob's Advice (2020). Read Paris In the Blood: How to Research a Novel, for free here

Delighted to have a piece in The Carbon Arc: A Collection of Essays on Cinema, edited by Richard Skinner and published by Vanguard Editions. And thrilled to appear alongside many great writers, including Marina Benjamin, Jonathan Coe, Wendy Erskine, Rob Doyle, Sam Mills, Christiana Spens, Nicholas Royle & David Savill. Order your copy here

A new Substack essay for July: I wrote about the best film to feature a non-actor in the lead role. Read This Never Happened to the Other Fella for free here

Thrilled to announce Salt Books are to publish my new novel, Time Being, in September 2026. I can't think of a better home for my book! Read the Bookseller piece here

Here's my review of Drayton and Mackenzie, Alexander Starritt's capacious, elegantly written novel of entrepreneurship and bromance in the TLS

I reviewed Harriet Armstrong's fierce and tender tale of first love, To Rest Our Minds and Bodies, in the Guardian

I reviewed Wendy Erskine's terrific, polyphonic debut novel, The Benefactors, in the June issue of the Literary Review

Conduit Books made the front page of Guardian Saturday at the weekend, with wonderfully thoughtful contributions from novelists Anne Enright, Nikesh Shukla, Sarah Moss & Leo Robson. Read it here

I wrote about the overwhelmingly positive response (& the valid criticism) to the announcement of Conduit Books in this week's Bookseller

A Substack post for May. Read Confessions of a Collector: On Being a 1970s Movie Obsessive for free here

Here's an interesting piece about Conduit Books that interviews three early career male novelists - Derek Owusu, Thomas Peermohamed Lambert & Leo Robson - in GQ Magazine

Here's my review of Ben Markovits's quietly enthralling, middle-aged road-trip novel, The Rest of Our Lives, in the Spectator

The launch of my new small press CONDUIT BOOKS has so far been covered by the Guardian (twice), the Times, the Telegraph, the Bookseller, Radio 4 and the French literary magazine Actualitté. Read and listen here:

The Guardian 28th April 2025

The Times 29th April 2025

The Guardian 2nd May 2025

Radio 4 PM with Evan Davis (at 23.50) 29th April 2025

Acutalitté 4th May 2025

Exciting news. I've started a small press called CONDUIT BOOKS, publishing literary fiction and memoir, focussing (initially) on male authors. Submissions open 1st-31st May. Do please send work to the Conduit Books website. Read the Bookseller piece here

Latest Substack: I wrote about seeing a double-bill of Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun at the Aylesbury Odeon as a nine-year-old... And then rereading all the Ian Fleming Bond books again forty years later, with some unexpected results. Read A Cup of Mud for free here

Xiaolu Guo's remarkable feminist reimagining of Moby-Dick is, among other things, a rollicking adventure novel. Here's my review of Call Me Ishmaelle in the Literary Review

And we have a winner! Congratulations to Gäelle Béllem & Bullaun Press for winning the 2025 Republic of Consciousness Prize with the outstanding tragi-comic tour-de-force There's A Monster Behind the Door. Read the Guardian coverage here

Thanks to my fellow judges Alice Jolly & Houman Barekat. Also thanks to Neil Griffiths of Weatherglass Books for hosting the winner's announcement event at Foyles on April 1st, and for founding this unique prize for small presses a decade ago.

I very much admired Anthony Shapland's taut, lyrical & political debut novel, A Room Above A Shop. Here's my review in the Guardian

In a Deep Blue Hour by Peter Stamm (translated by Michael Hofmann) is a very good novel about a novelist. Read my review in the TLS here

Last call for this: The Republic of Consciousness 2025 shortlist readings at the Deptford Lounge 6.45-8.30pm tonight, 13th March. I'll be there with fellow judges Alice Jolly & Houman Barekat & writers, translators & publishers inc Les Fugitives, Peninsula, CB Editions, Divided & Bullaun Press. Tickets here