From Chinoiserie to Fu Manchu

Ahead of the new Hercules Edition books, I chatted to Christopher Harding at the Telegraph about my Chinese ancestry and imagining China. You can read the article here

New books forthcoming with Hercules Editions

Happy to share the covers of new books due in May with Hercules Editions, both on the historical entanglements of Britain and China. More details here.

A few dates over summer…

The Kids is going on a tour, mostly of the north of England! And the Midlands. And London of course.

Here’s a photo of the bridge the train crosses over the Tyne…though really, it’s the view from the train on the bridge that I love.

And some dates. Hope to see you somewhere, sometime…

Wed 4th May – Writing on the Wall Festival, Liverpool

Sat 6th May – Newcastle Poetry Festival, Newcastle

Sat 14th May — Poets and Players, Manchester

Thurs 19th May – WORD, Leicester

Sun 22nd May – Museum of London Docklands

Wed 22nd June – China Exchange, Soho

Fri 24th June – Tunbridge Wells Festival

Sat 25th June – Writers Mosaic, Bradford

Sat 2nd July – Marxism Festival, London

Sun 17th July – Skylines Festival, Coventry

A little trip to Waterstones, Tottenham Court Road, to sign some books

Radio 4 Extra – Long Time No See (again)

So lovely that Radio 4 are re-playing Long Time No See this week  – Book of the Week back in 2016, read by me and Colin Salmon

A few words from me on teaching through a pandemic

It wasn’t the nightmare we thought it would be, but it wasn’t great either! 

BBC Radio 3 The Verb – Adversaries! And a new poem…

I enjoyed talking ‘Adversaries’ in literature with Marlon James, Jo Moshenka and Jane Casey, and lovely host, Ian MacMillan on The Verb this week. There’s a new sonnet on this theme, towards the end

Ahead of Stanza Poetry Festival, an interview with Beth McDonough from DURA

The Costa Book Awards Ceremony highlights…

‘Frank, funny, vulnerable’…The Kids reviewed in the Sunday Times