Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the author of “Slow Travels in Unsung Spain” and “The Remade Parent.”
I am a regular commentator on Spain’s social and cultural life for Australia’s ABC Radio and a columnist for Catalonia Today magazine.
I am also a freelance writer and teacher. Some of my work has appeared in The Guardian online, The Australian Journalism Review, Barcelona Metropolitan, Reportage magazine, OpEd News and the Costa Brava Resident.
I live with my partner/wife Paula and our teenage son Hugo in Catalonia’s Barcelona region.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Slow Travels in Unsung Spain. It was inspired by living in such a great place as Catalonia/Spain and the wish to remind myself (after many years) of why it’s so great. In this case, I wanted to share what it’s like to travel and simply be out and about in parts of the country that are not usually visited by tourists but genuinely deserve to be.
I’m always inspired too by the people I meet while travelling or just in everyday life.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Only that my two published non-fiction books have taken many years to write. I’m meticulous about what the final product is and I don’t have the opportunity to write full time. That explains why, I suppose.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The writers Paul Theroux and Antonio Munoz Molina were major influences on the style and content of my latest book.
I’ve always been a lover of reading and language(s) in general and there are so many other writers who inspire me. Currently, James Baldwin’s work is giving me real pleasure but in the past I’ve been especially touched by George Orwell, Siri Hustvedt, Primo Levi, Don Watson, Slavenka Drakulić, Rory Maclean, Joanna Bourke, Eduardo Galeano and of course Bob Dylan.
What are you working on now?
My first novel which has been with me in the first draft for four years now. It’s set in the city of Barcelona and is about a love-sick, ultra-sensitive office worker who is driven to the limits of what he can bear by his painful memories mixing with the anguish of the present.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Probably Facebook. My monthly opinion column in a magazine also helps.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read a lot. Try to write every day, even if you don’t think it’s exactly what you want to say. Write from your own experience whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. That makes for something authentic and improves the chances of it being interesting and worthwhile for readers.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
1. Read a lot because it will help you find your voice… or voices.
2. Only write because you have something to say: something you believe people need to hear.
What are you reading now?
James Baldwin’s “Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone.” Published in the year of my birth (1968) it is a wonderful book. In turns gentle then brutal, meditative then full of fire. He’s an absolute genius and I can’t wait to read more of his writing.
What’s next for you as a writer?
To finish my third book (first novel) and then try to get it out there with the help of my two agents on separate sides of the planet. After that I don’t have any other plans except to keep writing; on what, I have no idea at this moment.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1. Another James Baldwin
2. Another James Baldwin
3. The Collected Works of William Shakespeare
4. War and Peace. Never read it and it would keep me going for a long while.
Author Websites and Profiles
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