While the LD conference was taking place in London, the terrific Open Road people who are publishing all his work as ebooks, made a short film to promote his writing. I loathe doing this sort of thing – and I … Continue reading →

Having just spent a couple of days in a phone shadow spot in Hereford, I loved this from an article in Oxford today about round-the-world boating: ‘You’d be surprised how few places are now out of reach of cheap, instant … Continue reading →

Amateurs has been shortlisted for the HW Fisher Best First Biography prize, run by the Biographers’ Society. Good to get the news on the day Britain finally gets two gold medals – and HW Fisher happens to be my accountancy … Continue reading →

In 2000 the biennial Durrell conference took place in Corfu and I went with my sister. On one of the days everyone went up to Kalami by boat and had lunch at the White House taverna. After that a plaque … Continue reading →

I’m just coming to the end of Claire Tomalin’s terrific Dickens biography – she seems to get his mixture of charm and kindness and cruelty very well, though one can tell she is pained by his terrible lapses, as in … Continue reading →