Teachers getting lost
When I’m teaching, I often tell my students not to worry about originality. ‘Originality,’ I tell ’em, ‘is a shibboleth. The only writer who we know for sure was original was Homer. After that,...
Category: Books
Lumb Bank week in the snow.
Just back from a wonderful week tutoring an Arvon course at Lumb Bank, in the hills above Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire. All week, the snow stayed about a foot deep, until Friday night, when...
A Walk to Bongville
I have been waiting to read Olivia Laing’s ‘To the River’ for a year; I couldn’t afford the hardback when I saw it in the summer in the Penrallt Gallery Bookshop in Machynlleth, but...
Novels and Kindle.
Hope springs eternal, especially in the hearts of mid-listers. This week my novels ‘In Southern Waters’ and ‘The Battle for Dole Acre’ are republished for the Kindle, and hope insists that maybe this time...
Qualcosa della notte… (according to Babel Fish, anyway)
I heard today that DeAgostini have offered to publish Something of the Night in Italy, and that the excellent Claudio Silipigni is once again to be my ‘translator’, just as he was for ‘The...
Marchant, Pembroke… (well, SDUC Lampeter, the Poly of Wales, Lancaster and Birmingham City University, really)
On Wednesday evening I did a talk with Richard Beard under the auspices of the National Academy of Writing at Pembroke College, Cambridge, England, Yurp. The college were kind enough to invite my wife...
Spitfires on the Line.
I’m in the middle of making a short series for Radio Four with producer Mary Ward-Lowery about a series of journeys we’re taking along the line drawn by Prof. Danny Dorling of Sheffield University...
Something of the Night.
The new book is out. I’ve always done an introduction to the books, and posted them on this site; this is a first pass, really. I got the idea for a book about the...
Puch Maxi Moped, tit rub (or tit-rub), triple cooked chips.
Once again. I’ve been looking at the search terms whereby people find this site. Luckily, the most popular search term is Ian Marchant, and the various permutations thereof. But what fascinates me is the...
Good weekend so far, touch wood.
We drove to Cambridge yesterday to pick up some stuff, and on the way I bought the Radio Times and i, both of which had favouable things to say about the psycho-geography show on...
The Zep and I
Never been that bothered about the Zep, and I could do with some advice from those who were down with the whole big-haired squeeky voiced cod-Crowleyian ting. In m’new book, ‘Something of the Night’,...
Putative tit rub
I was talking to my editor today about the proofs of ‘Something of The Night.’ ‘The proof reader,’ he said to me, ‘has an issue with the phrase ‘putative tit rub.’ ‘Oh?’ I said....
Time to get over it
Well, ‘Something of the Night’ has gone to the typesetters, so soon I’ll be correcting the proofs. From now on in the process, changes have to be kept to a minimum, so I’ve had...
and yes I said yes I will Yes.
Still looking to get a message to Kate Bush. Found my grandfather Albert Bulbeck though, a story which deserves a post of its own. Which will follow. When I’ve found a way to communicate...
Looking for Albert (and Kate)
It’s a funny old world, and no mistake. This week I sent out a call on Facebook for help in my quest to get in touch with Kate Bush. I’m a long time fan;...
Dreadful inexcusable blunder.
I’m sitting at my computer holding my head in my hands, groaning, rending my garments and so on. This coming Sunday sees the broadcast of the second episode of the series I’m currently doing...
