Brother, genius

One of the central influences on my life is not a poet in the usual sense of the word, … More

Separate people?

Jack Palance: Do you know what the secret of life is? Billy Crystal: No, what? Jack Palance: This [he … More

I met Fairnie somewhere round the back of Richard Nicholson (or was it Rupert Loydell?) sometime in the very early … More

One of the great functions of art is to help … More

When I read poetry I want … More

Here is a quotation from Seth Godin’s The Icarus Deception that I have been meditating on for a while now. I have … More

‘80% of success is showing up.’ -Woody Allen I was chatting with a student the other day when I said … More

Below is the text of a PowerPoint presentation that I am giving today at the Directors of Studies Conference 2015, at Port … More

I have been wondering recently if the world of the poem (the one that is currently not-here, just out of … More

For those of you who have been enjoying my series of adventures with ‘the book’, here is a free eBook … More

Recently I have been reading the exquisite prose of Janna Malamud Smith, in her book-length meditation on creativity: An Absorbing Errand: … More

I am visiting the book. We have already been through a lot together, including the part where I killed it and … More

Cut through to what happens when you listen. Cut through to making it happen, listening for it, failing, then doing … More

In 1991 we moved to a house in Brixton, south London. Of all our welcomes, that of our neighbour, the … More

One of the biggest influences on my life, let alone my writing, is Martin Wilson. I should know; he’s my … More

I am completely torn apart -Rupert Loydell When I first read Raymond Carver’s Fires I loved and understood all of it, … More

I followed a lead, nudged by a hunch, and it brought me here. The book is In Their Own Words (edited by … More

I was at a thing recently. Not my thing, a good thing. Luminosity filled the evening. In the pouring of … More