While 26 won’t be attending the Oscars this year (perhaps our invite was lost in the post?) Max Parfitt shares...
Easter is several weeks since past, but Gillian Orr’s Substack on “How to have a Joan Didion Easter party” has...
These Precious Days, Ann Patchett If you’re a fan, read this. 24 autobiographical stories (they’re called essays, but are much...
I’d like to recommend the Shetland Islands. I know that’s cheating – Shetland is a place not a book or...
Nicholas Hytner’s new production of Frank Loesser’s classic musical treads a delicate path between tradition and innovation. The jokes are...
First, I’ve been enjoying the Instagram feed Five Flights Up. It’s a curatorial project of my friend Colin Huerter, an...
This year I’ve been avidly reading Lucian James’s Ko Strategies, a newsletter that follows the 72 seasons of the Japanese...
Wild Arts in rehearsal for Eugene Onegin, on tour this summer (Photo by Anastasia Tikhonova) News I’m excited that my...
Painting Paris Copies of my fourth novel ‘Painting Paris’ arrived and it looks good. So now I’m planning for the...
Publications Miss Veal and Miss Ham As well as being involved in the utterly engaging 26 Bridges project with my...
News My poem ‘Prime Minister Walpole leaves office, 1742‘ appeared in _Poems for persons of interest_, March 2026. I attended...
Members’ News I’m one of the speakers at this year’s Poetry in Business online conference. I’m on a panel with...
To the cosy, upstairs room of the Savoy Tap on Tuesday 16th September. A warm, intimate group of 50 or...
Can’t say enough good things about Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. She is one of my favourite authors but I had...
Colin From Accounts, available on BBC iPlayer, is both gorgeous and hilarious. Adding a disabled dog to the meet-cute premise...
Yes Logo! You’re in a darkened room. It’s sweaty. The floor is sticky. The space is stinky. You try to...
I loved bestselling author Gabrielle Zevin’s latest book Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. It’s a story about a deep friendship...
Last night I finally got to see Zone of Interest – on the big screen too – and it’s perhaps...
Fans of the beautiful, restrained writing of Clare Keegan will be eagerly anticipating the release of the screen adaptation of...
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett This is her lockdown book. But there’s barely a mention of the pandemic other than...
Members’ News I wanted to share for the news a project I’ve been involved in called ‘25 Voices’. (Not quite...
26 Board Member Sana Iqbal interviewed the global designers behind the Gaza ceasefire posters promoting marches by Palestinian and Jewish...
News June 16th is the day when James Joyce set his famous novel Ulysses. The day is now known as...
News & Opportunities The Friends of Greenwich are looking for a monthly e-Bulletin editor. The Friends of Greenwich Park, a...
Aubrey Plaza (left) and Maisy Stella (right) as Elliott in My Old Ass. Not long ago, and when it was...
The Park of the Hospital at St Rémy, 1889 by Vincent van Gogh. Photograph: Museum Folkwang Essen Impossible skies, trees that...
I went to see David Hockney’s immersive show at the Lightroom in King’s Cross. So beautiful I went back again...
Richard Flanagan is the Tasmanian-based, Booker-winning writer of The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2014). He gave a talk...
Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Kagami’. This was a virtual concert via headsets at the Roundhouse. A 100 or so of us seated...
I have been reading “We Are All Birds of Uganda” by Hafsa Zayyan. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how a...
My reading has leant towards the botanical this month. Thanks to Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life, I’m now fascinated by fungi,...
Welcome back to A Writing Life, our series of monthly articles written by long-time 26 member and contributor Rob Self-Pierson....
News In answer to the question ‘What have I been up to?’… This. With, predictably, no flicker of interest shown...
News I’m writing a book: working title How Brands Find Their Voice, to be published April 2027. It’s a deep-dive into verbal...
News Not news from me, but some news on another 26er. John Simmons has a new volume of poetry inspired...
Updates from 26 Last month saw the launch of 26’s new Radio Show / Podcast, “Why Words Matter” – a...
News I am thrilled to have two of my poems appearing in print. ‘The Budgerigar’ was selected by poet Pascale...
Not quite a recommendation yet, but I’m thrilled with two books hand-picked for me by Bookhive in Norwich: Samahani, by Abdelaziz...