The poet Julia Casterton died on Saturday, after a short illness, as a result of a long standing blood disorder. Julia was a fine poet, a remarkable tutor of Creative Writing and a lovely woman. She wrote the landmark ‘Creative Writing: A Practical Guide’, still one of the best books on the subject. I first met her in 1990, when I discovered that she had been largely responsible for the acceptance of my first published story in Ambit Magazine, fighting for its controversial content the previous year. She remained an editor at Ambit and was always a generous teacher and editor. Perhaps these were reasons why her only full length collection was long coming. ‘The Doves Of Finisterre’ is a powerful, intelligent, wide ranging book,…

This weekend marks the launch of the Nottingham Writers’ Studio website and to mark it, there’s a big piece in the Nottingham Evening Post featuring an interview with Jon McGregor, who founded the studio, Michael Eaton, Nicola Monaghan and yours truly. (If you buy the paper, I think there’s a photo of the four of us, but, as I type, it’s not on the street yet). Erik Petersen does a good job of describing the studio’s purpose and history, so I won’t bang on about it here, except to say that, if you’re a writer in the Nottingham area and need a place to work and/or to meet other writers, you ought to check out the studio on Heathcote Street, which has social events on…

Jarvis Cocker’s first Sheffield gig for five years was my first visit to ‘The Plug’, a club complex reminiscent of Rock City, had it been built 25 years later without a balcony. The place was rammed and we didn’t bother trying to get a drink, but had a terrific view. The big change, now that Jarvis is solo, is that he gives his repartee full range (last time I saw him in Sheffield, with Pulp ten years ago, the old City Hall acoustics meant nobody could hear the jokes). So, although he only had the (patchy) new album to play, the set was stretched out with a load of humour, ranging from the early ‘be nice, me mam’s here’ to a bunch of local references…

This year’s holiday reading post is rather earlier than usual as we’ve just (a jetlagged week ago) returned from a long break timed to celebrate the end of my research leave and the beginning of Sue’s (I had a very productive period, thanks very much). David Peace – The Damned United Not read Peace’s earlier novels but the word of mouth on this was so good I had to check it out: a cleverly constructed, engrossing account of Brian Clough’s 44 days as manager of Leeds United combined with flashbacks of his managerial career up to then. You don’t need to be a football fan to enjoy this. The Clough voice convinces, allowing you to love him and understand what a nightmare he could be…