FAQ

I have the privilege of working with one of the great editors of our time. New Yorkers is the third book I’ve collaborated on with Matt Weiland, who is now a senior editor at W. W. Norton. He’s the best in the biz. He’s the most attentive editor I’ve ever encountered.

Michael Salu was the art director at Granta when the book came out. He convinced FUEL Design to create a beautiful cover.

‘The only thing I know,’ and this I was told in a very loud pub in Cricklewood, ‘is that a real Londoner, a real one, would never, ever, ever eat at one of those bloody Angus bloody Steak Houses in the West End. That’s how you tell,’ the man said, wavering, steadying himself with a hand on the bar. ‘That’s how you tell.’

I’m not sure. I wrote about the great state of Delaware for a project called State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America. The book was edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey. Wilsey presented Obama the book during an event at the White House. According to accounts, ‘Obama was very interested in the book and began reading it in front of Wilsey.’ There is nothing – other than his great love for Joe Biden – to assume he would have immediately flipped to the section on Delaware.

I’m sure everyone has at least one vivid memory of Delaware. I remember people talking about credit cards in Wilmington. I remember staying at a motel in Rehoboth Beach during a greyhound convention, or perhaps a greyhound owner’s convention. I remember driving all over the state listening to the audiobook of Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch.

Yes – and many more. My friend Leanne asked me to edit the second installment of J&L Illustrated.

I briefly got to know a man named Colin Elford. I knew him long enough to write a preface for his book, A Year in the Woods. I loved the idea he had one book in him, and instead of seeking out some other book to write, he went back to his job as a forest ranger. I remember eating a meal with Colin and listening to him describe the best way to kill a deer. He did a lot of deer culling.

‘[Elford] obviously loves his deer and his squirrels, but a large proportion of the book seems to be concerned with him outlining the most effective ways of shooting them. I know these animals have to be culled or the populations would go through the roof and we would end up sharing our houses with them, but to be picky I prefer a bit less death in my bedtime reading…’

I got to collaborate with the amazing Tom Gauld for a project. You Are The Friction is an anthology of collaborative short fiction and illustration. He had to illustrate a piece I wrote. I had to write about one of his illustrations. The book also featured Evie Wyld and Richard Milward and was published by a venture called Sing Statistics.

Real good.