I wrote about the Wild Swans sequel for The TLS the-tls.com/lives/autobiog…

'The book’s main subject is ultimately itself, the process of its composition and the limitations and opportunities afforded by the written word.' Nick Holdstock (Nick Holdstock): An epic novel of German culture and historical violence the-tls.com/literature/fic…

'Even a book that has sold 15 million copies worldwide cannot be held responsible for the politics of how China is represented in the West.' Nick Holdstock (Nick Holdstock): The sequel to Wild Swans the-tls.com/lives/autobiog…

I think we could all use a little more 'monstrous quality'

My novel about the art historian Aby Warburg’s struggle with madness, that was shortlisted for the Novel Prize, will be out next year. saggingmeniscus.com/catalog/porcup…

Sometimes those Nobel folks really get it right. theguardian.com/books/2025/oct…

My The TLS piece on the worthy winner the-tls.com/literature/fic…

A little gem worth revisiting lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/…

Pentland quarry fern fossils

Such anticipation for this: youtube.com/watch?v=ttF-uK…

I wrote about Cartarescu's Blinding for the TLS

Of Seven Fir Trees and the Snow, a collection of my translations of Thomas Bernhard's early short stories published by Seagull Books سیگل, is available for pre-order at Amazon. a.co/d/1HvGjaZ

The best China books of 2025, across nonfiction and literature, as selected by experts and the editors. Read the full list: chinabooksreview.com/2025/12/18/bes…

The multi-talented Emily Nemens has a new novel, Clutch, out in a few months. More on that here emilynemens.com/books/ and pre order here zandoprojects.com/books/clutch/

Some colour for this endless January. Released from a box after 25 years.

‘Perec went into analysis because he suspected that the ludic bent of his writing was in fact blocking an approach to his life story.’ Paul Keegan on Perec’s decision to enter analysis with Pontalis. granta.com/the-perec-case/

Nice Murnane piece. exactingclam.com/issues/no-20-s…

Fine piece by Tom Stevenson that deftly unpicks a lot of lazy, prejudicial thinking about the Xi era lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/…

I‘m at a show about Làslo Krasznahorkai in Vienna and saw this letter from Thomas Pynchon to Krasznahorkai. I was reminded of this brilliant feature about Pynchon by Ana currentaffairs.org/news/thomas-py…

.Timothy Grose: “A troubling misconception seems to have taken hold: state violence targeting Uyghurs is over. In reality, the party-state’s infrastructure of repression has become more deeply entrenched in the region.” prcleader.org/post/the-patie…