Starting Something: January

It’s January – we all want to start something! Fires are permissible, especially of preconceptions, shame, etc., although let’s guard against loss of life. Reading for pleasure: yes, of course, I have started three books in the last two days alone but there’s not as much glory in starting a book as in getting to…

Change: Who could have imagined?

“Who could have imagined this” we say, as we realise we won’t be hugging our fathers on Father’s Day. But isn’t it striking how badly we failed to imagine everything about the world of Covid-19? Even in February, as the news was filled with reports that thousands of people were falling sick and dying in…

2018: A Commitment to Storytelling

I called for an industry behavioural code back in January because it seemed to me that a written statement was the only sufficient and appropriate response to the results of The Bookseller’s survey into sexual harassment in the book trade. The books business is founded on shared beliefs: in the importance of free expression, the…

See Me Now: Pride

I have been shortlisted as a possible Agent of the Year by the British Book Industry Awards*, which is a great honour. But oh, I nearly didn't make it. All I had to do was to write a 1500 word essay about myself and my agenting, together with an account of my achievements and successes during My…

Publishing for Humans

These days whenever I meet an author for the first time, they've always met me before. Not the real me, but the versions of me which exist online. I suspect I'm taller than they expected. It isn't always comfortable or sensible to embrace the half version of ourselves that Twitter generates; indeed lots of great…