Whoop! We have SOLD OUT of the special numbered editions of RELEARNING TO READ and it's not even published yet! But don't despair, the paperback is available and comes in three slightly different covers. If you order one, it's a lucky dip. Or order three to be safe... renardpress.com/books/relear...

Book of the month: Ning Ken One of the lovely things about this project is the interactions I've had through it with writers around the world. The Chinese literary master Ning Ken is a great example. After I gave a quote to support Thomas Moran's English translation of Tibetan Sky, I received a…

Give away! Tell me about a book you gave or received for a chance to win a beautiful essay collection featuring many well-known writers' reflections on childhood reading (shipped anywhere in the world) ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2025/09/18/g...

Sure - it was the Oxford English Dictionary, which is what I also have on my desk.

Today is a sneaky early launch for my book #RelearningtoRead, published by @renardpress.com with a wonderful introduction by Lucy Caldwell. The official paperback publication date is 1 October but today fifty of these limited-edition copies, signed and hand-numbered by me, tumble into the world.

Dear Will Dady from @renardpress.com drove more than two hours yesterday to bring hot-off-the-press copies of my new book #RelearningtoRead to my house for me to sign. This has to be my favourite thing a publisher has ever done for me.

Book of the month: Nauja Lynge ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2025/08/29/b...

Thirteen years ago, I declared this man the writer I would most like to meet. Now I’m in Greenland with him. The world is full of so much darkness. We human beings do terrible things to one another. But there are also moments like this #anafricaningreenland #greenland

Think I've got everything. #Greenland here I come!

Delighted to be back literary exploring at #CheltLitFest (10-19 October 2025). Events include reimagining travel writing in the age of migration, reacting to the Nobel prize announcement and a special workshop to launch RELEARNING TO READ www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/whats-on

I'm not sure it was ever quite a library of Alexandria (I remember how awful chatrooms were) but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be possible to do a project like a year of reading the world on the internet now.

Seeking a good book on the history of the Nobel prizes, particularly the Nobel prize for literature. Has anyone got any recommendations? #BookRecommendations

It'll be my first night in Nuuk in just over a week's time, so it seems fitting to prepare by reading this (tr. Anna Halager). #anfricaningreenland #witmonth

'You can’t help noticing how literary the collective consciousness of everyone in this book seems to be.' Yes, interesting. I enjoyed this book, but found myself thinking I couldn't help noticing how Western the perspective of everyone in it seems to be, despite the team being international.

The Republic of Consciousness Prize for small press fiction has a new sponsor and a new name. The Queen Mary Small press Fiction Prize. I'm excited to be judging it alongside @stuhennigan.bsky.social & @susannacrossman.bsky.social therepublicofconsciousness.substack.com/p/new-name-a...

Trying to read some Greenlandic/Inuit writing before I travel to #Greenland next month. Any recommendations? #AnnandanafricaninGreenland

Book of the month: M.G. Sanchez ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2025/07/28/b...

Whoop! Big thanks to @waterstones.bsky.social for picking #RelearningtoRead for this pre-order promotion. Order through their website, using code SUMMER25, and get 25% off until end of July.

‘What can I say, Juan? There are things embedded in my past that no man should have to talk about in the first-person possessive.’ From Diary of a Victorian Colonial and other Tales by M. G. Sanchez #Gibraltar

‘These scoundrels… [should be forced to] apologise. And while they’re doing that there has to be a visible blob of marmite on their clothing.’ Costa-winning poet Jonathan Edwards has a mischievous suggestion for handling rejection in the new #rlfcollected podcast.rlf.org.uk/488-jonathan...

My younger daughter, who is two, enjoys watching Bluey and Peppa Pig. But she calls them Bingo and George. For her, the shows are about the younger siblings. This is why representation and diversity of voices matter: we look for ourselves in stories.

you have to feel the language in your bones. the language is not a part of you, you are a part of the language, a wave in its ocean

So the #education secretary has announced that 2026 will be the UK’s National Year of Reading. If only there were a book coming out this October about putting the joy and curiosity back into #reading 🤔 (Still got a couple of ARCs if you’d like to see one)

What is the future of English studies? ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2025/07/07/w...

Book of the month: Tahir Hamut Izgil ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2025/06/30/b...

Went to see Guns N’ Roses at Wembley last night. My first big stadium gig at the ripe old age of 43. This morning I keep reflecting on the resonance of those lines from Civil War: You can’t trust freedom when it’s not in your hands/ When everybody’s fighting for the promised land.

Wow, would you look at this? A visitor to my blog has created an interactive map showing the titles rated highest on Goodreads for each country. Extraordinary. (Apparently ATONEMENT tops the bill for the UK) bookrecommendationgenerator.com/world-book-m...

Such an honour to have Tessa Hadley as a guest on #rlfcollected. I particularly love what she says about her early struggles to write - so inspiring for all of us who have battled to realise the work we feel compelled to make podcast.rlf.org.uk/486-tessa-ha...

Honoured to have an essay in this collection, published today in the UK, alongside work by such household names as Michael Morpurgo, Madeleine Thien, William Boyd and Nikesh Shukla. Many of my most powerful exchanges with book lovers around the world have involved messages from young people.

Thanks so much to @annmorgan.bsky.social for this proof copy of Relearning to Read, a book that offers insights into how we can reset our reading to engage more fully with literature that may be unfamiliar to us. Ann is the author of Reading the World, her project to read a book from every country.

"To write stories is to be distrustful. To read is to engage with the story. Every story tells of a ghost. At the end, the centre of the story is a Black Hole, but it isn’t black, and it isn’t dark. In the best case, it might gleam." Judith Hermann, tr. Katy Derbyshire

This happened. RELEARNING TO READ is one of The Bookseller’s top ten nonfiction recommendations for September. Hooray!

A year ago today, I met legendary Togolese explorer Tété-Michel Kpomassie in person for the first time. This summer, I am travelling to Greenland with him. Life really is extraordinary

Another episode of #RLFCollected takes flight today. Alex Wong tells host Julia Copus what it’s like to write poems as someone who cannot visualise imagery. podcast.rlf.org.uk/485-alex-won...

Book of the month: Julian Maka’a ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2025/05/29/b...

It was a joy to interview my friend, Laura Barnett, for #RLFCollected. Laura speaks with generous frankness about the challenges behind the success of her debut novel, THE VERSIONS OF US. What’s more, the music was composed by Laura’s husband Andy! podcast.rlf.org.uk/484-laura-ba...

Time for #Bookpost! At last week's @indiepressnetwork.bsky.social this caught my eye. #RelearningToRead by @annmorgan.bsky.social . Thanks to the kind folks @renardpress.com for sending me an ARC. There's plenty of books on the art of writing, but what about reading? I think this will be engrossing

Amid the September proof deluge I am much looking forward to reading this by @annmorgan.bsky.social @renardpress.com

What a great idea from @renardpress.com: 4 covers for the book by @annmorgan.bsky.social on Relearing to Read - and being comfortable with not knowing, with ambiguity, different cultures and different interpretations. Because there's more than one way to read!

Such a pleasure to see the #coverreveal of @annmorgan.bsky.social’s fab new non-fiction book Relearning to Read today – hearty thanks to @marinasofia.bsky.social and @lucycaldwell.bsky.social! Allow us to introduce the Ltd Ed cover too… 🧡💙 renardpress.com/books/relear...

Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing by @annmorgan.bsky.social is the Swim in a Pond in the Rain for 2025! Details here, pre-orders open with @renardpress.com

Today it’s the #coverreveal for my next book, RELEARNING TO READ: ADVENTURES IN NOT-KNOWING… and here’s one of them. This book has several slightly different covers to reflect the fact that there is more than one way of reading - if you order the paperback you won’t know which version you’ll get!

That feeling when you’re reading the final pages of a great book and a wonderful tenderness and wistfulness begin to suffuse the writing, and you realise that this is a story the author loved writing and that they were as reluctant as you will be to let it go…

Proofs of RELEARNING TO READ: ADVENTURES IN NOT-KNOWING have just arrived. It’s my most ambitious, collaborative and personal book to date. Cover reveal with a twist coming next week!

The stage is set for today's Gliterary Lunch with @barbleahy.bsky.social and @annmorgan.bsky.social . Here we go!

So looking forward to talking books again this eve – see you in 30m? Calling all #bookreviewers and #booklovers… free and fun evening hearing about the best books to look out for this spring… We’re talking about @annmorgan.bsky.social’s new book… Join us at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/indie-pres...

RLF Collected podcast (aka an insight into one of the projects that’s been keeping me busy this past year…) ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2025/05/13/r...

The latest #rlfcollected episode is out today, a conversation between host @dougjohnstone.bsky.social and crime writer Howard Linskey. I found what Howard had to say about writing in a non-linear way particularly interesting, as I sort of write that way too… podcast.rlf.org.uk/483-howard-l...

First e-proofs of RELEARNING TO READ have gone to readers, with physical copies landing imminently. It's such a magical time when proofs go out, to think of the work starting to live in other minds. #amwriting

A debut in two senses today on the blog: my first ever participation in a blog tour and a first novel by a writer I have had the privilege of mentoring and editing for several years. ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2025/05/04/b... @renardpress.bsky.social