Andrew Taylor

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Andrew Taylor

Andrew Taylor was born in Stevenage when it was just a sleepy country town. He grew up in the Fens in the shadow of a vast cathedral. After university, he rambled about four continents, earned very little and conspicuously failed to become a writer. In desperation, he returned to university and then worked as a librarian in London.

Then, in a moment of panic, he began his first book. Against all odds, the novel found a publisher, whereupon he decamped to the Forest of Dean, largely because it was the complete opposite of the Fens.

Andrew has been there ever since, crumbling away in a crumbling stone cottage. He walks among trees and plays in a punk-rock ukulele and guitar band which has been known to make strong men weep.

In his next life, he would like to be an author.


Interviewed 26 February 2024

Ten words to sum up your working life to date ...

A journey without maps. So far so good. What next?

Nine things you can see from where you're sitting ...

iMac, Evelyn’s Diary, Moleskin notebook, penknife, noticeboard, bookshelves, Panama hat, filing cabinet, camel saddlecloth.

Eight minutes to prepare a meal. What's it going to be ?

Open wine, microwave jacket potato, add olive oil, salt and pepper, grate cheese, rinse salad, pour wine.

Seven people you'd like to go for a drink with ...

Patricia Highsmith, Agatha Christie, Bob Dylan, P G Wodehouse, Jane Austen of course, Charles II, and the grandpa I never knew.

Six things you can't live without ...

Espressos, red wine, my family, my publisher, my agent, the Forest of Dean.

Five favourite words ...

Supper, hinterland, chocolate, wildwood, schadenfreude.

Four places you'd run away to ...

Rome, Crete, Pembrokeshire, Co Cork.

Three books you've bought recently ...

The Romantic by William Boyd
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
George III by Andrew Roberts

Two things that make you rant ...

Brexit, unkindness.

One thing you'd tell your teenage self ...

Just go for it.