Articles and Interviews
In a narcissistic spirit of completism, I have dredged out occasional pieces – articles, book reviews and interviews – that are still online. Here they are.
ARTICLES
In 2003 I had the great good fortune of being offered a place on the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
During my stay, I wrote a couple of pieces for public readings. Here they are (the first very much of its moment):
The Dwelling-Place: Some Thoughts on Landscape & Literature
In 2006 I took part in the New Symposium, a gathering of writers from around the world considering the global commons. We met – oh professional hardship – in the village of Lefkes on the Greek island of Paros. Here is my essay, ‘Under the Watchtower’, which is collected in The New Symposium, edited by Natasa Durovicova and Christopher Merrill, available from Autumn Hill Books.
In 2009 I foolishly accepted an invitation to debate the climate crisis at St Andrew’s University. Here is my account of the evening for Prospect Magazine.
BOOK REVIEWS
When Languages Die by K. David Harrison
The Bellini Madonna by Elizabeth Lowry
Ask Alice by DJ Taylor
The Wilding by Maria McCann
All of the following are available behind the TLS pay-wall. Click here to search for them.
Border Bypass: a dispatch from the Edinburgh Festival 2008
Far from the Healing Light: a dispatch from the Edinburgh Festival 2009
The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs
The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel
On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts by Thomas De Quincey
INTERVIEWS
2006 – with my friend, author Clare Dudman
2006 – with Elena Dedukhina
2008 – with Murrough O’Brien for The Independent on Sunday
2009 – for Norman Geras
2011 – this video of me gesticulating for The European Short Story Network