• Flush Fiction

  The coming of age novel is one of our most popular and powerful literary genres. From The History of Tom Jones to Twilight, The Catcher in the …

• Word of mouth basics

  I was recently interviewed by Adrian Swinscoe as part of his series featuring people who take a slightly different approach towards traditional business …

• 3 ways to celebrate the future of books

  Do you love to talk about publishing innovation but realise that you behaviour as a reader has barely changed? Are you truly creating, or …

• 5 ways to get your nature fix in London

  As I type this, Soho is sunny. Not just a-few-weak winter-rays sunny, but a glorious, blazing, Vitamin D fest that has us sweating …

• 5 top online productivity tools for writers

  Ah, tools. Such a seductive word, with that tactile, workmanlike ring. And such seductive implications. Accumulating tools feels like the very opposite of …

• A Perfect Fit?

  Last spring, our editor became a runner. Not a sashay-in-St-James’s-Park sort of runner, but a proper, no-fags-and-booze, marathon-by-April semi-athlete. Naturally, PHOENIX HQ …

• 10 social media myths for writers

  What the hell happened with social media? We were told that the fierce publishing-industry lion wouldst lay down with the …

• My life in twelve books

  Last week, a colleague of mine asked if I would participate in a Pinterview (a Pinterest interview. Don’t judge.) called ‘My …

• Close Encounters of the Word Kind

  This Christmas, I bought my mother-in-law a Smythson ‘Book Notes’ journal: 128 leaves of gilt-edged, pale blue featherweight paper bound …

• London’s Top 10 Cultural Cafés

  People watching is one of the greatest pleasures a big city affords. It’s especially good when practiced from a warm corner with a flat white …

• Dead Ends @ The Ministry of Stories

  Although novelists can come up with a justification for almost any procrastinatory activity (I need to eat this cake! My protagonist loves cake!), we can …

• Forget Little Women; embrace real heroines

  Did you know that Stella Gibbons, author of Cold Comfort Farm - not to mention twenty-four other novels, three volumes of short stories, …

• Too Much Too Young

  Written as part of Book Slam’s second anthology Too Much Too Young, for which twelve writers picked a song and used …

• Deathstyle @ The School of Life

  I am afraid of death. Deeply, wibblingly, atheistically afraid. Terrified of losing my consciousness (not to mention my Whistles green silk shirt) forever more. I …

• Explore new horizons at the South Asian Literature Festival

  When you sit down for a bedtime recitation Grimm’s Fairy Tales, do you realize that many of those weird and wonderful folk tales have their origins …