The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad is a finalist in the 2025 Orwell Prize. Delighted to be nominated alongside such a wonderful clutch of books. Thank you to my editors at Sceptre Books and Scribner.

Simon Parkin has won the 2025 Literary Award of Excellence in History from the Chicago Botanic Garden for THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN! 🌿📚 A remarkable blend of history and storytelling, this award-winning work is a must-read. Discover it here 👉 bit.ly/3QDyvc8

Very excited to be leading/hosting this “in conversation” with ⁦The Orwell Prize⁩ finalists ⁦Mishal Husain⁩ and ⁦Simon Parkin⁩ at Foyles Charing Cross Thursday 19th June, 19.00 - book ticket here 👇🏽. foyles.co.uk/events/orwell-…

This week's guest is Bennett, philosopher, former bassist of Cut Copy, and the creator of the indie hits QWOP, GIRP, and Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. In this clip, Bennett recalls the strange moment he saw his game featured in the U.S. version of The Office:

Very much looking forward to this, including hearing the stories in Simon Parkin book: when I went to St Petersburg for the first time in the 90s there were many people alive who had lived through the 900 day WW2 siege

On the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Elena Lobova was in her flat in Kyiv city centre, preparing to host an online global game jam. When she realised the noises she could hear outside were explosions, she faced a tough choice: flee the city, or stay and run the event:

The APWOT Trilogy Reprint campaign is NOW LIVE ON KICKSTARTER! 📚 Help us bring back these 3 timeless publications that are as creative and playful as the people and games featured within them: ⭐️ kck.st/4kjrqhj ⭐️ Sound on! 🔉

Robbie Singh feared it was a prank when, in 2018, a friend texted to say Epic Games was closing Paragon, the game on which he'd built a career as a streamer. Singh refused to let it die. With no experience, he founded Omeda Studios and built Predecessor:

From Sylvia Plath’s afterlife to memoirs by Martin Amis and Geoff Dyer, Simon Parkin’s expansive reading list, sparked by his Orwell Prize-shortlisted The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad, dives into the murky, moving challenge of making sense of the past. 🔗 Link below!

Thank you. Looking forward to talking about it alongside Simon Parkin in runup to The Orwell Prize - some of our fellow Political Writing shortlisted books below

Ray Chase, the former voice of Coke Zero, who plays Noctis in Final Fantasy 15, has a dating game out today in which you can date more than a hundred anthropomorphic objects from your home (?!). Listen to his story here:

On Hideo Kojima’s strange, anxious, grief-stricken science fiction game that contemplates how our digital interactions are no substitute for the stuff of physical existence — and risk hollowing out both ourselves and our communities: theatlantic.com/technology/arc…

Cabel, the son of two Portland artists, built one of the most interesting software companies anywhere—publishing Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game, making t-shirts for Katamari Damacy, and developing the kookiest handheld console ever devised. A joyous chat:

Has anyone ever loved Donkey Kong as deeply as Ed?

A joy to speak to author, food critic, and broadcaster Jimi Famurewa for My Perfect Console Podcast - Jimi speaks about playing Metal Gear Solid with his cousins, why Pro Eve was always the superior game to FIFA, and his new and brilliant food memoir, Picky.

I spoke to Kat Abughazaleh, journalist, influencer and candidate for Congress, about her path into politics, why she thinks we should view politics as a job, not a lifestyle, and the time her brother ruined Christmas after she beat him at Smash Bros: bit.ly/4kUqFuy

My book, 'The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad' is available for pre-order in paperback, currently with 25% off at Waterstones, using the code: SUMMER25. Please pick up a copy here: waterstones.com/book/the-forbi…

Tune into our latest episode to find out what Hit Points by Nathan Brown, former @EDGEonline editor, consultant, and creator of the Hit Points newsletter, picked for his perfect console. Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/0vhqju…

'There are no depictions of violence here – but as you puzzle together the pieces, you witness a slow collapse of innocence, replayed in dreamlike fragments, some tender, others unbearable.' On Luto, a game about abuse, grief and hope: observer.co.uk/news/science-t…