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Writing Short Gay Fiction
Lockdown 2020 and the view from my writing table in Lowestoft was of the North Sea. Winds blew. I was going nowhere. Here was my chance to follow Herman Melville out across the ocean. Ishmael, the narrator of Melville’s Moby-Dick, takes us into the bed he shares with the Pacific …
Burning Memories as Fuel for Worldbuilding (Part II)
Creative Writing lecturer and Barbican author Edmund Hurst continues his reflection on worldbuilding in fiction (read Part I). In this post, he looks back at adolescence, love and heartbreak, before inviting you to try a writing exercise. Burning your Adolescence ‘You don’t notice a callus forming. It is …
Burning Memories as Fuel for Worldbuilding (Part I)
Barbican author and Programme Director for Creative Writing at the University of Hull, Edmund Hurst reflects on the writing process, the genre of Fantasy, and how memory helped shape his debut novel Arx: City of Broken Minds. Over the coming weeks, he will share three posts, each with a writing …
Miranda Miller reflects on exploring autobiography for her new novel
Timothy Hyman RA, Painting the Family (2003), Collection of David Smith When I first saw this painting by my late beloved brother Tim, I’d just moved back to London, where I grew up, from Oxford. Three of the people in the painting were dead and I was living in …
India’s Top Book Award Recognises Barbican Author
India’s National Academy of Letters, The Sahitya Akademi, has just announced its awards for India’s best books of the last five years. Its top prize, The Sahitya Akademi Award for English Fiction 2024, has been won by Easterine Kire for her novel Spirit Nights, published by Barbican Press in …
Rediscovering, and sharing, a major Scottish-American writer and her book
Key to the small publishing house I run, Barbican Press, is sharing my private reading passions. ‘This book is so special EVERYONE should read it.’ That approach takes a new turn this month – our newly released book is old and the writer is long since dead. I came across …
ARX: City of Broken Minds – Unboxing and Launch Event
Edmund Hurst’s debut novel Arx: City of Broken Minds launches next week! Our latest title, a standalone epic of grimdark fantasy, releases worldwide on Tuesday 17th September. Author Edmund Hurst recently received copies of the book, which you can see him unboxing in the video below. To celebrate the launch, we’re …
Rewriting Billy Budd from Benjamin Britten’s hometown
The stories in Martin Goodman’s new collection Lessons from Cruising come from across the globe, a couple stemming from Covid and the year of lockdown. ‘We locked ourselves away in Britain’s most easterly point, and different aspects of Lowestoft life sparked a pandemic story. Things like the kittiwakes nesting on …
Delve Deeper into Nature, My Teacher with James Thornton
James Thornton’s Nature, My Teacher hit the shelves earlier this year, and it is continuing to warm hearts and open minds. Back in April, James launched his latest book in Culver City, California. You can view images of that event down below. Many thanks once again to Village Well …
Colin W. Sargent in conversation with Talk Radio Europe
Colin W. Sargent, author of Red Hands was recently interviewed by Giles Brown of Talk Radio Europe. They discussed the extraordinary real life of Iordana Ceaușescu, the woman at the heart of the book’s incredible true story. Listen below or click here for the full interview. Many thanks to Giles …
Nature, My Teacher – the birth of a book
October 2022 and James Thornton was spun away from seventeen years of frontline action, setting up the global environmental law charity ClientEarth. He had six months of sabbatical before a regular working life resumed, no longer the group’s CEO but its president and founder. We found quiet places in Nature …
James Thornton in Conversation
It’s Spring at Barbican Press and we’re gearing up for the launch of some exciting titles, starting with James Thornton’s eagerly anticipated Nature, My Teacher. James Thornton’s latest book, the hotly anticipated and highly praised Nature, My Teacher, launches on April 16th. Ahead of this, James recently featured on KWMR’s Airwaves …
