King Lear for PORT magazine

Afternoon all: I've written a little piece on why I love King Lear, for PORT magazine. You can read it here.

Interview with Tishani Doshi in PORT

Tishani Doshi. Photo by Laurence Ellis for PORT

I've interviewed the poet, novelist and dancer Tishani Doshi, for PORT magazine. You can read the interview in the latest issue, or check it out on the PORT website here.

New issue of PORT magazine - The Golden Age of magazines

Well hello. There's a new issue of PORT on the stands, and it features a big piece about magazine editors. We're entering a new golden age, with new titles springing up, and quality and culture getting better. Oh, and my interview with the writer Tishani Doshi is also in there. Go and buy it, you know you want to.

Ray Winstone introduces new issue of PORT magazine

Here's Ray Winstone introducing the new issue of PORT magazine, which Daniel Day-Lewis has guest edited. I've got an interview with the Kes actor Dai Bradley in it: it comes out in March.

Issue 8 of PORT

It's time for issue no 8 of PORT magazine - a bumper one (and I now know that "bumper" comes from the word "bumper", a drunk, the idea being that a bumper can be both a drunk and something that you drink from, in the same way that a reader is both a thing read and one reading.) I've written a short piece about Glenn Gould which is in the mag; also check out the excellent cover piece about Will Ferrell.

Charlie Siem: Interview for PORT

Charlie Siem: Puckish

Hello there, I've interviewed the excellent young violinist Charlie Siem for PORT magazine. He's tearing up the international music stage - check out the piece here. The photos are by Sean Frank Johnson.

PORT special food issue, guest edited by Fergus Henderson

Are you hungry? You will be when you've read the gourmandish new edition of PORT magazine, which is a foodie special. It's bursting with brilliant stuff - Fergus Henderson, of St John Bread and Wine, guest edits, and there's pieces by Simon Armitage, an interview with Nigella Lawson, and some fish photography that's beautiful and eerie. My piece, about Ruth Rogers of the River Café, isn't online yet, so get hold of the weighty and impressive print edition - and have a look at the preview video here.

Cheap Date! And PORT issue 4 - Benjamin Millepied, Book porn, Alain de Botton, DBC Pierre and Noam Chomsky

 Salut mes amis! Yes, it's the fourth issue of PORT magazine, which marks its first year as a quarterly magazine. It's a stonking issue - the cover is graced with ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied (quite an appropriate name, that, don't you think?) and inside you will find a mixture of fashion, style and intelligence that you won't get anywhere else. There is a (very) angry letter by DBC Pierre to marketers; there is an exclusive extract from Noam Chomsky's new book; there is a piece by Alain de Botton about pornography; there is an interview with Michael Fassbender; and there is "PORT's version of porn", as the editor, Dan Crowe, puts it in his letter - a series of photographs of people's bookcases. Basically, your life will be a lot better after you've read it. Go and seek it out!



It comes in the same week as I received a copy - the first copy that I ever did see - of my first ever contribution to the magazine world. A long, long time ago (well, 2000), when I was still at school, I wrote an article for Cheap Date magazine about starting trends. The issue on the right was the New York edition, which came out in 2001. It was very strange reading the article - I winced slightly at my prose, but it gave me immense pleasure to see it. And with Liv Tyler on the cover, too. It was also quite cool seeing my name in the list of contributors along with Tracey Emin, Erin O'Connor, Larry Clark, Sophie Dahl - and someone called Bum. So thanks enormously to Kira Jolliffe (the editor) for sending it to me after all these years.

The magazine is full of fun stuff, including a photo story about the Sock Man - who keeps girls in his cellar in order to steal their socks. My favourite feature, though, is definitely "Horror Scopes". Sample: "Capricorn: You appear to be happy but you're not ... your close friends know that you're living a lie and that you're only disguising your depression with your daily doctor-described medication ..." It's a shame that Cheap Date isn't around any more, but I'll certainly treasure this issue.

Philip Womack interview with Ivo Stourton, Port Magazine

Ivo Stourton. Photo by Sean Frank Johnson.

My first contribution to PORT magazine is up and running: an interview with novelist Ivo Stourton. Click on the link HERE to read it.

You can also read my review of Ivo Stourton's The Book Lover's Tale HERE

And of his launch party HERE

PORT Magazine - 2nd Issue

Secundus, in Latin, means favourable as well as second; and it's a stonking second issue (in both senses) from PORT magazine (of which I'm a contributing editor). David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker, gives a rare public interview, cementing PORT's policy of putting people on the cover who aren't just celebrities. There's a piece about assassins in Colombia by Martin Amis, with very striking photos by Tom Craig; an open letter by Fatima Bhutto to the Pakistani people about the state of education; an elegant linking circle of stories featuring John Keats, Baudelaire, Jarvis Cocker and Hunter S Thompson; and all the usual excellent writing and style we'd expect from PORT. Let's raise a glass of the stuff to it (yes, I know it's the morning).

PORT Magazine: Lift Off

Last night was the launch party for a new venture by Dan Crowe - PORT Magazine, an intelligent style guide for men, of which I'm a Contributing Editor. The first issue has been printed and it commands attention: the name of the magazine is in raised gold letters, and the names of the contributors and interviewees are printed below: Daniel Day-Lewis doing a piece about Palestine, an interview with actor Tahar Rahim; a letter by Samantha Morton; pieces from Jon Snow, Frank Skinner and Will Self. It's a great idea, harking back to a time when magazines published intelligent and in depth pieces.

The party took place in Dunhill's shop in Mayfair: champagne, salmon, ham; a humidor; there was a croquet set but I didn't quite pluck up the courage to set it up. Brett Anderson from Suede loomed; Jon Snow was there (apparently biking, as he was wearing a yellow reflective jacket.)

Here's to Port's continuing success.