Tag Archives | Crouch End

RIP Prospero

6 January 2011 · Living · Comments { 0 }

I learned recently of the demise of Prospero’s Books, my local independent bookshop in Crouch End. It made me very sad – it was a great bookshop, with knowledgeable staff who were always very supportive of me and of other local writers. I was even on their bestseller list for a while. The strange thing [...]

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'Male Artists’ Dressing Room (Clock)' from 'STILL' by Roelof Bakker

Roelof Bakker, ‘Still’, Hornsey Town Hall

12 December 2010 · Living · Comments { 1 }

Just wanted to give a belated mention to a really good photography exhibition in Crouch End recently. It was a series of photographs of Hornsey Town Hall, an Art Deco listed building that has been minimally used for a long time now. After Hornsey was absorbed into the larger borough of Haringey in the 1960s, [...]

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Rumours of the death of bookshops

3 August 2010 · Literary events · Comments { 7 }

I got depressed about bookshops recently. A great little London literary magazine, Smoke, has just published its last issue. The editor/founder Matt Haynes explained: Of the hundred-odd shops that stocked our early issues, well over half have now closed. And when Borders ceased trading just before Christmas, we lost not only more than 25% of [...]

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Mention in Time Out

8 April 2009 · On the Holloway Road · Comments { 0 }

My book got a small spot in this week’s Time Out, in the “Battle of the Books” feature…

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My book is a bestseller*

17 March 2009 · On the Holloway Road · Comments { 7 }

* in Crouch End. Hey, it may not be the New York Times bestseller list, but it made me proud when I walked past my local bookshop, Prospero’s Books, and saw my book at #4 on the Bestsellers Chart. I even asked someone to take a photo. Come on, it’s probably the last time in [...]

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Sheer egoism

1 March 2009 · On the Holloway Road · Comments { 2 }

Yes, I went around bookshops looking for my book on the shelves. And I started taking photos of it… OK, so it’s not very cool. It’s not something I could picture Salman Rushdie or Iam McEwan doing. But I enjoyed it!

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RIP Pick More Daisies

10 January 2009 · Living · Comments { 4 }

My favourite cafe in Crouch End, the cafe where I wrote most of my novel On the Holloway Road, has just put up a notice saying it has fallen victim to the credit crunch and closed down. It was a shock to me. The place was perfect for writing. It had friendly staff, American-diner-style bottomless coffee, [...]

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Library cuts

28 April 2007 · Thinking · Comments { 3 }

I love libraries. Always have. I could spend all day in a library, working my way through the stock. I even love the weird library smell (what is that? It’s not the smell of books, because bookshops don’t smell like that). So I was upset to see my local library in Crouch End, London borough [...]

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