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Philip Hensher

Philip Hensher

Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Exeter, Philip Hensher was among Granta 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 2003. The author of six novels, a collection of short stories and an opera libretto, he has won numerous prizes including the Somerset Maugham Award and the Stonewall Journalist of the Year. A regular presence in the British media, alongside his Wednesday column for The Independent, he writes for The Spectator and Mail on Sunday. His latest novel, The Northern Clemency, is published by Fourth Estate.

Philip Hensher: We have a right to know BBC salaries

If you work for the BBC, you are, like a lottery winner, allowed to tick the "no publicity" box

Recently by Philip Hensher

Philip Hensher: Polite guests always eat the weirdest meat

Monday, 8 February 2010

What a nightmare. You're asked out to dinner by some new friends. You really want to be a good guest – they're nice people, you want the evening to be a cheerful one. They take your coat, sit you down, give you a drink and a peanut. And then you notice that there's a slightly strange smell permeating everything. You don't say anything just yet, but they must have noticed something. "We're cooking you our favourite dish," they say. "It's a family favourite." "How lovely. What is it?" you say. "Boiled seal," they reply. "The kiddies clamour for it."

Philip Hensher: Salinger's legacy may lie in ashes

Monday, 1 February 2010

The last time J D Salinger made a considered, edited literary statement was in 1965. It was a long and bizarre short story, called "Hapworth 16, 1924". It came out in The New Yorker, but has never been published in permanent form. Since then, until his death the other day, as all the world knows, he stopped publishing altogether.

Philip Hensher: Terrible news made worse in the telling

Monday, 25 January 2010

Friends and family were astonished to read in La Nazione an interview with Guido

Philip Hensher: Google's book 'deal' has left me confused

Monday, 18 January 2010

I don't like the prospect of someone in another country proposing to fiddle with my ownership of my own books

Philip Hensher: Lifelong lessons learnt at the double bass

Monday, 11 January 2010

The Festival of British Youth Orchestras has been cancelled this year for lack of funds. It takes place every August in Edinburgh. It's had some problems recently in fulfilling its remit – it's become overwhelmingly a festival of Scottish youth orchestras, last year attracting only one orchestra from elsewhere in Britain.

Philip Hensher: Blasphemy laws can only invite trouble

Monday, 4 January 2010

None of us likes being insulted, but only a priest seeks to pass a law against it

Philip Hensher: Independence day for a land with no name

Monday, 28 December 2009

This month, the southern half of Sudan moved closer to independence. The ruling party in Khartoum and the former rebels in the south agreed terms for a referendum, to be held in 2011. Nobody thinks that the result is likely to result in anything but a vote for independence. But one issue hasn't been resolved, as far as I know. What will the new country be called?

Philip Hensher: Homosexuality, death and the BBC licence fee

Monday, 21 December 2009

Well, how would you feel? An organisation which you pay a three-figure sum to, every year, decides that it is going to spend some of that money on debating whether you should be executed or not. "We agree that it is a stark and challenging question," the organisation says, when they are asked whether this is a suitable way for it to be spending its time.

Philip Hensher: It looks this cheap because it cost so much

Monday, 14 December 2009

Misguidedly, I took a seat in the front row of the preview theatre to see Where the Wild Things Are. Wittgenstein, who had a taste for the brash musical offerings of Carmen Miranda, always did the same thing on his regular outings at the Cambridge cinema. He liked, I believe, to be completely swallowed up by a film. Wittgenstein, however, lived before the age of the affected wobble and the pretence of well-meaning but incompetent cameramen. After 15 minutes, I started to feel a little bit sick.

Philip Hensher: Days of the Library Stinker are numbered

Monday, 7 December 2009

There's always been a gruesome whiffer in every library

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