Six People
Words | Music | Food | Life | Life again | Cricket
A Tuesday bonus post. Do share far and wide.
From time to time I like to draw attention to people who bring good things into my life. Here’s the first volume, posted back in December.
This time I’m highlighting some writers who are doing excellent stuff on here. They write about various subjects, all of which chime in one way or another with my own interests. I’d be amazed if anyone shares those exact interests, but I hope there’s at least one there that most of you will be prompted to explore. And if you have your own favourites, do share them in the comments.
Incidentally, for those of you wondering why there’s no nature- or bird-based writing on this list – that one will be the subject of its own post at some point.
(Full disclosure: I have never met any of these people, but I do regard most of them as friends for the weird modern reason that we have shared experiences on the internet over a period of time. They’re probably horrible in real life, for all I know.)
Person 1 – Jonathan Gibbs
Category: readin’ an’ writin’
If you like short stories, then this is an absolute must. Each week a guest contributor selects twelve and writes a bit about them. It’s always fascinating to see not just the choices, but the approach each contributor takes to the task. I based my choice, predictably enough, around birds:
A Personal Anthology has been going for six years, so there’s now a rich archive, ripe for immersion (over 2,200 stories have been recommended, which should be enough to keep you going for a while). Read a bit more about it here, or visit the original site to browse the full archive.
You can also find Jonathan on Twitter. And while we’re at it, here’s his Linktree.
Person 2 – Leah Broad
Category: music
Leah has been my go-to person for a couple of years now whenever I need to know anything at all about women composers, which is quite often (I have, like many people, a lot of catching up to do).
Her recent book, Quartet, has been met with huzzahs all round. It isn’t yet quite at the top of my ‘to read’ pile, but it’s heading that way. If it’s anything like as informative and interesting as her posts on here (and there’s not reason to suspect it won’t be), it will be a treat.
You can find Leah on Twitter, and her website is here.
Person 3 – Lucy Inglis
Category: Life with a capital L
Nobody writes quite like Lucy. If I remember correctly she was selected by the OED as something like ‘a unique user of the English language’ (and no doubt she’ll be along in a minute to correct me).
Do have a look. She’s great. As indeed is her book Milk of Paradise: A History of Opium.
Person 4 – Nic Miller
Category: food
Fans of 1970s prog rockers Yes will get the reference in the title of Nic's Substack immediately, but it doesn't matter if you don't. What you're there for is the food writing, and you'll struggle to find a more wide-ranging and fascinating purveyor of foodie talk than her. Get yourself over there pronto.
Person 5 – Josie George
Category: Life with a capital L
Josie doesn’t post as often as some, but what she has to say is always worth reading, preferably slowly. Thoughtful and full of insight, imbued with quiet but forceful humanity.
She also wrote a beautiful book.
Person 6 – Jarrod Kimber
Category: cricket
I’m convinced there are at least three Jarrod Kimbers. It’s the only way I can explain his productivity. And the quality of his thinking isn’t lessened by the prodigious output. If you’re interested in cricket, and in particular The State and Future of the Game™, then I commend his writings, analysis and podcast to you.
LEV!!! Thank you so much, this has really cheered me up x