David Peace’s new novel, Patient X: The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa, follows the life story of the great Japanese writer. Here’s an extract on Akutagawa’s growing obsession with books. House of Books . . . Book after book, book by book, pile by pile, shelf by shelf, screen by screen and wall by wall, you…
Cosey Fanni Tutti talks Art Sex Music
Industrial music pioneer and performance artist Cosey Fanni Tutti has written her autobiography. Art Sex Music is the story of a musician who, as a founding member of the avant-garde group Throbbing Gristle and electronic pioneers Chris & Cosey, has consistently challenged the boundaries of music over the past four decades. It is the account…
Thomasina Miers cooks crispy chicken thighs
Here’s two delicious recipes taken from Thomasina Miers’ new book, Home Cook. In it she cooks her favourite recipes, things she cooks at home for her family, from everyday breakfasts to special feasts. This first video shows her cooking Crispy Chicken Thighs. And the next shows the recipe for Poached Eggs with Melted Leeks and…
Points that Make a Line: Mapping Ireland’s Border by Garrett Carr
The Rule of the Land is about reading the power dynamics in a landscape. To write the book I explored Ireland’s border, but I like to think that I uncovered things relevant to frontiers everywhere. Growing up near the border may explain my fascination with what happens where a country ends, and what springs up…
Fiction’s greatest detective duos – chosen by Stav Sherez
Stav Sherez, author of the Carrigan and Miller crime series, has chosen his five favourite literary crime duos. His new novel, The Intrusions, is out on 2nd February 2017, which has been described by Ian Rankin as ‘A Silence of the Lambs for the internet age’. The classic image of the detective is that of a solitary figure silhouetted…
A Year of Crisis
As 2016 draws to a close, world leaders, newspaper commentators, and ordinary citizens are struggling to make sense of what has been, by any reckoning, an extraordinary year. From the vote for Brexit to the election of Donald J. Trump, and from the attempted coup in Turkey to the bloody end to the siege of…
Exploring the dark corners of the Georgian age, by Stephen Taylor
I knew when I decided to write a biography of Lady Anne Barnard that the materials were rich. Her years at the Cape of Good Hope from 1798 established her as one of those indomitable women travellers of the early empire, a free spirit who mixed as easily with indigenous Africans as with aristocratic proconsuls…
