John Baker’s Blog

If the author wants it or not, Magnus Linklater argues, long-running characters should be bumped off and the rest of us freed from the tyranny of the sequel.
Even as we wait, breathless with anticipation, Inspector Rebus is shuffling off into an uncertain future; Ian Rankin is writing his world-weary detective out of the script.
Thanks to [...]

Jonathan Miller makes his directorial return to British theatre with a new production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, and we were lucky enough to have front row seats for the performance in Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre last night.
It is interesting to note that Miller decided to use a new translation of the play, which is the [...]

Russell Celyn Jones writing on his experiences teaching creative writing suggests that failure causes real emotional trauma among his students. And he compares the creative writing business to the business of psychotherapy, something Americans are more comfortable with than the British.
The trend in workshops, at least at a post graduate level, is towards the literary [...]