A S H Smyth › Interview(ed)

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Tag Archives: Wendy Cope

Interview(ed)

Thursday, June 9, 2011

(for the British School in Colombo yearbook 2010/11) 1. So, what’s with the beard? After I graduated from the War Studies Faculty at KCL I rather fancied myself as a war correspondent, so I grew the beard. Then I just rather fancied myself. 2. We somehow get the impression that you are always very sarcastic […]

Filed in Fictions, interview | Also tagged Alexander (‘the Great’), Amazonian tribesmen, Arthur Rimbaud, beards, Beethoven, books, Bruce Chatwin, Chooties, Christopher Hitchens, cynicism, Dr Gregory House, Dr Hannibal Lecter, Geoff Dyer, GF Handel, Helen DeWitt, Jacques Kallis, Jeffrey Barnard, Jim Morrison, JM Coetzee, John Nash, John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester, literature, Lydia Davis, Margaret Atwood, Maurice Bowra, PE instructors, Peter O’Toole, Philip Seymour Hoffman, piano, Radiohead, Roald Dahl, Russell Crowe, school, sex, singing, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Sri Lanka, TE Lawrence, teaching, Thom Yorke, Toby Ziegler, university, War Studies, WG Sebald, Yasmina Reza | Comments (0)

Second Thoughts

Monday, April 5, 2010

Very Short Stories* by ASH Smyth (et al.) * inspired by the Galle Literary Festival’s Opening Lines Project Antony Beevor In history, as in politics, intellectual honesty is the first casualty of moral outrage. In both disciplines, the first casualty of intellectual honesty is one’s wallet. David Blacker ‘He hit the morning, running, Benzedrine and […]

Filed in Fictions, Journalism | Also tagged Antony Beevor, David Blacker, Gillian Slovo, Ian Rankin, Lal Medawattegedara, Louise Doughty, Michelle de Kretser, Rana Dasgupta, Ru Freeman, Shehan Karunatilaka, Shyam Selvadurai, very short stories | Comments (1)

Beer, Roving, and getting to write your own headlines

Monday, March 1, 2010

Letter from the Galle Literary Festival 2011. — For theartsdesk

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Ashok Ferrey, Blaft, Chinaman: the legend of Pradeep Mathew, Claire Tomalin, David Blacker, Diran Adebayo, Galle Literary Festival, Geoff Dyer, Geoffrey Bawa, Gillian Slovo, Ian Rankin, Kaveri Lalchand, literature, Louise Doughty, Malinda Seneviratne, McSweeney's, Michael Frayn, Michael Meyler, Mohammed Hanif, Monica Narula, Neluka Silva, Philip Roth, Pradeep Jeganathan, Rana Dasgupta, Ru Freeman, Sarnath Banerjee, Shehan Karunatilaka, Shyam Selvadurai, Smriti Daniel, theartsdesk, Ulrik Plesner | Comments (0)

“What’s so wrong with having a sense of humour?”

Sunday, February 28, 2010

ASH Smyth meets his poetic heroin(e) and suffers a Dictaphone malfunction When you step outside, perhaps you’ll see an envoy from the Nobel Literature Committee; though it’s unlikely. This was my attempt at ‘finishing’ Wendy Cope’s contribution to the GLF’s Opening Lines Project. I figured it did the job, a fragment of Cope-style (Copious?) […]

Filed in interview, Journalism | Also tagged Craig Raine, Galle Literary Festival, heroes, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, Opening Lines Project, Poetry, Sunday Times (SL) | Comments (0)

(Beer and) Roving on the literary circuit

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Despatches from the Galle Literary Festival (SL Sunday Times).

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Ashok Ferrey, Blaft, Claire Tomalin, David Blacker, Diran Adebayo, Galle Literary Festival, Geoff Dyer, Geoffrey Bawa, hangovers, Ian Rankin, Jehan Mendis, Kaveri Lalchand, Louise Doughty, Malinda Seneviratne, McSweeney's, Michael Frayn, Michael Meyler, Mohammed Hanif, Monica Narula, Neluka Silva, Philip Roth, Pradeep Jeganathan, Rana Dasgupta, Ru Freeman, Sarnath Banerjee, Shehan Karunatilaka, Shyam Selvadurai, Smriti Daniel, Spectator, Sunday Times (SL), Tokyo Cancelled, Ulrik Plesner, WG Sebald | Comments (0)

Geoff Dyer, Michael Frayn, and other people who were or were not there

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

GLF diaries – part the second.

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Ashok Ferrey, David Blacker, Diran Adebayo, Galle Literary Festival, Geoff Dyer, Geoffrey Bawa, Gillian Slovo, Lal Medawattegedara, literature, McSweeney's, Michael Frayn, Michelle de Kretser, Monica Narula, Pradeep Jeganathan, Prospect, Rana Dasgupta, Ru Freeman, Ulrik Plesner | Comments (0)

In which the author expresses his love for Wendy Cope

Friday, January 29, 2010

Diary from the Galle Literary Festival (preamble).

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Antoine de St Exupéry, Antony Beevor, Artemis Cooper, Ashok Ferrey, Bevis Bawa, Claire Tomalin, Clive James, Erich Kastner, Galle Literary Festival, Geoffrey Bawa, Gillian Slovo, Ian Rankin, Kingsley Amis, literature, Louise Doughty, Michael Frayn, Prospect, Rana Dasgupta, Shyam Selvadurai, WG Sebald | Comments (0)