Friday, 13 February 2026

What’s on my radar: when a cover makes me preorder

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There is a very particular thrill to a cover reveal. I know there is for me. It is such a delicious moment.  It is not the algorithmic sort...
Tuesday, 10 February 2026

20 UK literary agents you can submit your novel to right now

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 Navigating the UK literary agent scene can feel opaque, but it helps to know who’s out there.  This isn’t a definitive list, but these are ...
Saturday, 7 February 2026

After Lonesome Dove: why Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy is the Western to read next

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For many readers, Lonesome Dove is not simply a favourite novel but a defining one. It leaves such an indelible impression.  It certainly d...
Friday, 30 January 2026

Waiting for the winter that never comes: George R. R. Martin, the long delay, and the afterlife of Game of Thrones

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It’s been nearly fifteen years since A Dance with Dragons was published. That was 2011, the same year Game of Thrones first aired on HBO, ...
Tuesday, 27 January 2026

It’s hard to get a literary agent — here’s how to improve your odds

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If you’re struggling to find a literary agent, you’re not alone, and you’re not doing it wrong.  The truth is, the odds are tough. Fewer tha...
Saturday, 24 January 2026

Julian Barnes: The six essential reads

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A Sense of an Ending had been on my to-be-read pile for a long time, and I can’t believe I put it off for so long.  It is such a wonderful...
Wednesday, 21 January 2026

How to tell if an agent is right for your book (not just your dreams)

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So, you've got an offer from a literary agent. It is an amazing moment. After the champagne has settled (or the cautious optimism kicks ...
Monday, 19 January 2026

The call: what happens when a literary agent wants to sign you?

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You’ve done the research, sent the query, and waited patiently, or obsessively, and now it’s happened. An agent wants to talk. This is what’...
Friday, 16 January 2026

How to write a query letter that doesn’t sound desperate

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How to write a query letter that doesn’t sound desperate Query letters walk a tightrope. Too humble and you undersell the work. Too bold and...

The literary middle: Loving books that don't go viral

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In the age of algorithmic discovery, it often feels like the same ten books are everywhere. You open Instagram, you see Fourth Wing . You op...
Friday, 9 January 2026

How to find a literary agent: five honest steps for fiction writers

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Finding a literary agent can feel like trying to catch the attention of a stranger in a crowded room, while whispering. There’s mystique, ga...
Wednesday, 7 January 2026

Reading in the gaps: Why we return to books that broke us

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There are books we finish and put down, and for a while, we are unable to speak. These are books that pull the air from our lungs. That leav...
Sunday, 28 December 2025

Novels I didn’t finish, and why that’s OK

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There’s a quiet guilt attached to not finishing a book.  No longer on your TBR. Instead consigned to DNF. A sense that stopping is a kind of...
Friday, 19 December 2025

Reading in the liminal: The books that hold us between seasons

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There is a particular kind of reading that feels like standing in a doorway, neither fully in nor fully out. Not every book asks for deep at...
Wednesday, 10 December 2025

The waiting game: Why Donna Tartt’s silence is part of the myth

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Some authors tour, tweet, podcast, publish—and then there is Donna Tartt. Three novels in more than three decades, no confirmed interviews s...
Monday, 8 December 2025

The death of genre? Why writers are dismantling old labels

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It used to be so simple. You wrote a crime novel, or a romance, or a dystopia. Bookshop shelves were helpful about such things: spine out, g...
Thursday, 27 November 2025

Rejection letters as literature: The best (and worst) no's in publishing history

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There’s something perversely comforting about reading other people’s rejection letters. Especially the ones addressed to now-immovable titan...
Wednesday, 19 November 2025

Why does every bestseller sound the same? A mini manifesto against beige prose

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Pick up any recent bestseller and you’ll notice it. The prose is clean. Efficient. Emotionally calibrated within an inch of its life. And, y...
Saturday, 15 November 2025

Books that saved my writing: Five under-the-radar titles every writer should read

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Not every book that changes your writing shouts about it. Some sneak in sideways, books that don’t always appear on must-read lists but lodg...
Tuesday, 11 November 2025

The Booker goes blokey: what David Szalay's Flesh tells us about masculinity in fiction

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David Szalay's Flesh is many things: stark, relentless, deeply bodily. But above all, it may be the most blokey Booker winner we've...