My first ever short story. Originally published online January 2015 as part of a failed M.A. in Creative Writing at NTU that I walked away from. The Leash We cannot start from what we do not know we can only start from what we know The leash to the greyhound tightened around her red raw…
American and Canadian Studies
The last great White Elephant
In 1986 or thereabout I bought the Carver stories above from a shop in Plymouth whilst visiting my sister. It was the start of my obsession with all things ‘Americana’. I moved on via Granta’s Dirty Realism collection to a whole series of American authors including Lorrie Moore, Bobbie Anne Mason and then backwards towards…
Memoirs – Ford and Morrison- Dealing with Death
I have just read these two linked memoirs. In discussing his memoir of his parents Ford specifically mentions the influence of his friend’s earlier book. Both are very strong works although maybe because of its particularly English subject and atmosphere the Morrison just shades it for me especially as my own parents both died…
Southern Writers at NC 1: Flannery O’Connor’s Visual Imagination
The self-portrait and the state official version.. http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/event/study-sessions-women-writers-us-south The first session in Nottingham Contemporary’s season of Southern Writers organised by Graham Caveney was excellent and not only was it a pleasure listening to Richard H. King speak about Southern Writing but there was the added pleasure of meeting the crime novelist John Harvey and his…