FAQ

Q. What’s your favourite headline?

A.

Q. Do you regularly work with anyone?

A.

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.

Q. Was one of your plays turned into an opera?

A.

Yes, a composer named Gary Carpenter used the text as a libretto. Rebecca-Jane Lea, Louise Ashcroft, and Loré Lixenberg sang the pieces.

Q. Is there a book club discussion kit for New Yorkers?

Q. Who designed Londoners?

A.

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

Image of the cover of Londoners.

Q. Who is considered a true Londoner?

A.

‘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.’

Q. Where am I most likely to see a copy of one of your books?

A.
A crowded subway train car, with a copy of Londoners opened in the corner of the frame.

Q. Has Barack Obama ever read your work?

A.

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.

Q. What are your memories of Delaware?

A.

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.

Q. Do you have a battle cry?

A.
An illustrated computer file with a raised fist. Written on the file, "I'm not a JPEG I'm a human being"

Image from 5D32 by Jody Barton

Q. What’s the deal with the Jermyn Street Theatre production of One Million Tiny Plays?

Q. Have you ever been part of a project that featured Miriam Toews, Marcel Dzama and Richard McGuire?

A.

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

Q. Do you know any game hunters?

A.

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.

Q. Do you have a favorite Amazon review of Colin’s book?

A.

‘[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…’

Q. Which illustrators have you worked with?

A.

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.

An pencil illustration of a man with a bushy beard, with birds peeking out.

Q. What sort of work did Jason Logan create for the Anything But Guns project?

A.
An abstract painting with spilt-ink-like colors. Blue, brown, and pink.

Q. Have you ever seen a copy of Ali Smith’s Winter where there’s something weird and wonderful going on?

A.

Q. Do you think there’s such thing as a perfect work of art?

A.
A still from Tokyo Story, with two characters sitting on a ledge, looking out at the ocean.