text > favourite writers

These are writers whose books I've sought out and devoured over the last 20 years, added here in an as-i-read-them kind of way. Not many British writers focus on short stories (which I like), hence the international flavour. The links are not always to the author's own site, but may be interesting interviews, reviews or articles instead. I've read everything some of these authors have written (soon: Amazon links for UK readers).

Leonora Carrington (1917-): The task of the right eye is to peer into the telescope, while the left eye peers into the microscope. Descibed by Dali as the most important female artist, Leonora Carrington (brief biography) is an English writer and painter living in Mexico, her early life wrapped up in the Surrealist movement. I became fascinated by her three books of short stories, then discoverd that she has a living relative in my home town. "Down Below", the account of her own mental breakdown, is her most well-known story. This page, from a profound site with many surrealist writers headed "the universe ... which others call the library" has a good picture, a brief biography and a short story, "The Debutante". You'll either love it or hate it.
Raymond Carver (1938-1988): Carver has not been a minimalist but a precisionist - David Lipsky, National Review (USA) (5.8.1988)
the strangeness concealed behind the banal, the individuality that survives mass-produced goods and look-alike lifestyles, a poetry out of the prosaic - Peter Kemp, The American Chekhov, London Times (quoted by Carver biographer William L. Stull, professor of rhetoric, University of Hartford, USA). The late Raymond Carver is arguably one of the most important American writers of the 20th century. Poetry and short stories. This site is designed and maintained by Tom Luce and Brent Bryan, with approval from Carver's partner Tess Gallagher.
Anne Tyler (1941-): My most recent reading frenzy. Another American writer, whose novels emerge at two year intervals and celebrate an opposing view to aggressive, ambition-based culture, which is why I like her characters. One of the most deeply human writers I've ever enjoyed. More details to follow.
Italo Calvino (1923-1985): Apart from his fiction, I used to read his collection of Italian Folk Tales as bedtime stories for my two daughters. Read a short Calvino biography, and page of resources on Calvino. More details to follow.
Milan Kundera (1929-): A writer for would-be writers and creatives everywhere... more details to follow.
Laura (Riding) Jackson (1928-): The Wikipedia page on Laura Riding is a good place to start. There's also the official page and the foundation. The Progress of Stories is the short story collection that drew me to her work. She was also the brains and the muse driving much of Robert Graves' work.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1928-): Magic realism with a human face. More details to follow.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Labyrynths and unfathomable occult libraries. More details to follow (I know - when? - but like to do my research to make sure the infomration and links are worthwhile. And these things take time and I'm not dead yet :-)
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928): Description sometime. But yes, you can call me a romantic, sometimes.

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