THE GLASS CHANDELIER

Reclusive Northern Rock Stars, Comedians Slapped With Fish And Christmas Musicals

2012-01-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

In the last few weeks I’ve been fortunate- for one reason or another- to finally have the time to dedicate time to a few projects I’ve wanted to do for a while. The end of the year seemed to- rather haphazardly- arrive with a lot of opportunities to take part in some new ventures, some of which felt slightly out of my depth. After I finished my second novel 'Letters From Yelena' I was invited to act in a comedy pilot called Thunk, made by the award-winning Hot Gulp, which you can see on the link below-

http://vimeo.com/34076267

I also started my first play- a collaborative project with a fledgling Manchester comedian - about a reclusive Northern rock star in the vein of Mark E Smith. One of the perks of having your first novel released is that it gives you more of an opportunity to make contact with people whose work you admire, some of whom can be kind enough to invite you to send you your current work in progress. The thought of the pop star I listened to while writing my second novel, possibly soon owning that book is a surreal thought. In my case this has also led to me being invited to write a musical with a singer whose work I much admire- Richard Walters- notable, among other things, for his song writing with Suede’s Bernard Butler. It’s also given me the time to catch up on many books and films I’ve wanted to immerse myself in, including...

My Week In The Russian Ballet

2011-10-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

I was very fortunate to be awarded a grant by the Arts Council to research my second novel, Letters From Yelena, for a week in St Petersburg. The book will chart the life of a Russian ballerina, and the trip gave me the chance to find out what this would have entailed...

Day 1- St Petersburg is bewildering, overpowering, and grandly beautiful. I lug my suitcase down the great Nevksy Prospekt, and struggle to make out signs depicted in letters I’ve previously only seen on confectionary. My hotel is situated in between the prestigious ballet academy the Vaganova, and the famous Mariinsky Theatre. As the city darkens I go to visit the Isaac Cathedral. It’s surrounded by neo-gothic statues, with young couples kissing in amongst all its dark corners.

Day 2- In the morning I visit the Nabokov museum. A quote by the writer on one of the video installations seems particularly relevant to my situation. ‘Reality’ he says ‘is perpetually eluding. A plant has a deeper reality for a botanist than for a layman. All you can do is progressively delve through the layers.’ It strikes me that this is all I am trying to do.

More immediate concerns hit me when I grow hungry. Using a phrase book I work out how to say ‘rice’ ‘chicken’ and ‘coffee’, and I eventually successfully order a meal. As I finish it though it transpires that the waitress spoke fluent English, but was too polite to interrupt me.

Day 3- I am met at the hotel by Maria, a guide who takes me backstage at the Mariinsky Theatre. This is where I will begin the pursuit of my character Yelena, whose letters comprise the book. In my story she dances here at her graduation. Maria and I view the grand, hand painted stage-curtain and gold encrusted stalls from the royal box. Backstage ballerinas with talced faces peer at us from their dressing rooms while they chat on mobiles. I am taken through winding corridors full of ballet dresses, ancient props, and determined seamstresses. I feel like I have been placed in a fairy tale.

Day 4 - After months of persistence I find out I have been permitted entry to the Vaganova Ballet Academy. I’ll be one of the few British people to ever fully set foot in the academy, a place which jealously guards its secrets. Writing a book about a Russian ballerina was not anything like enough of a reason to be allowed in. I had to prove I had relevant personal connections, and I also had to pass as a ballerina myself. Maria expresses some relief that I could still feasibly pass this test. I for once feel glad of my relatively slight build. Although it’s part of Maria’s job to set up such tours, she has never been able to get into the academy herself before, and is very excited to realize this life’s dream. I am shown around the academy by it’s pro-rector Aleksi, who was himself a ballerina. He kindly endures my relentless barrage of questions as he leads us around. He is used to intensity, and tells me dancers regularly require therapy when they are retired at 35.

In endless halls, overlooked by portraits of Nureyev, young ballerinas repeat routines from early in the morning to late at night. The haunting refrain of repeated piano music echoes through the halls. I’m taken into the hall of residences. Each ballerina has a small corner in which their worldly possessions are condensed. As they are rarely allowed visitors, my presence causes a bit of commotion. One ballerina is convinced I am French, and keeps speaking to me in that tongue. I just nod and repeatedly say ‘Oui’. Maria wonders why I don’t just tell her I am English. As I leave some of the ballerina's also make their way out to get pizza at the square nearby. They are permanently hungry.

Day 5- I’ve been able to get tickets to watch the famous ballet ‘Giselle’ at the Mariinsky Theatre. Noble families take their children here as part of a cultural rite of passage, and they are in evidence dressed in their finest clothes. The scrum for seats does not seem fitting for such an elegant enterprise. The performance itself is very powerful, and many are in tears at the end. The public expression of emotion here seems to provoke admiration, rather than shame. The lead ballerina, the very young Alina Somova, returns for three encores and is laden with flowers.

Day 6- On my last day I take in the cities architecture and gardens. My mind is constantly looking for places in which my characters romantic liaisons could have taken place. The mental image I had of Yelena came from a photo of a model in a cosmetics advert, which I stumbled across in a magazine. On my way back at the end of my walk I happen to see this same advertisement on a billboard just behind to the ballet academy. Although I remain far from an expert in ballet, in some small way it feels like I have finally found Yelena in this city.

(Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. To find out more abut the Arts Council visit http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/)

The Unusual Intimacy Of Dinner Parties

2011-09-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

As I move beyond the age where going to nightclubs remains comfortable, I find myself enjoying dinner parties more and more. I’m not talking about the Come Dine With Me style bitterness fests which we often see on TV, but instead those rare evenings when mutual disclosure is permissible and perhaps even nourishing. I apologize for writing about an arguably pretentious black and white French film, but I recently caught the wonderful ‘My Night With Maud’ for the first time. The film captures an intimate night in which a strongly Catholic man is introduced to a divorcee, the beguiling Maud. Over the course of the night they discuss fate, mortality, and philosophy, and when snow prevents him returning home the two of them have to spend the night together.

As an engaged Catholic the man has to resist the charms of the alluring Maud, and question whether his wife-to-be, a younger and more innocent women, is really right for him. In so doing the two characters inner worlds, with all of their ornate details, are laid bare through their private conversations. The concept of two people attracted to one another and being bound together for a period of time is one that intrigues me. The film was one of my main inspirations when writing The Intimates, in which I wanted to examine why dinner parties allow people to so readily reveal themselves.

What fascinated me about this film was the way in which the two characters late-night conversation allowed both of them to map out their intricate inner worlds. In striving to justify their worldview to one another – if only to resist each other - they created a bond which remained long after the man is forced to return to his fiancée. Despite this, it is evident that Maud, played by the exquisite Françoise Fabian, lingers in his mind. As a voyeuristic viewer you’re left to wish that he returns to her too. It confronts the viewer with occasions they have found themselves resisting temptation, and in so doing bonds us to the protagonist. The movie was the third in a sequence by six by Eric Rohmer, but out of all of them is undeniably the one that leaves the most enduring impression.

Award for 'Letters From Yelena'

2011-09-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

This week I was very fortunate to be awarded by the Arts Council a grant towards the research and development of my second novel 'Letters From Yelena'. The book in progress contains the letters sent by a brilliant ballerina to ‘Noah’ – a writer who first gave her faith in people after the darkness of her childhood. By chronicling her journey first as an immigrant, then as a rising ballerina, the letters will chart how seemingly insurmountable obstacles can be overcome through the connections people make.

I'm grateful that the award will allow me to spend much more of my time writing, as well as taking me to St Petersburg in Russia in a few weeks time. Whilst there I hope to visit the prestigious Vaganova Academy and world famous Mariinsky Theatre - places where my lead character learnt to dance. I'm also attending a performance of the famous ballet-blanc 'Giselle' at The Mariinsky Theatre. St Petersburg is a city I have been longing to visit for a while and it will be great to go there to work on my second novel. It will be good to flesh out exactly how my character would have lived, and hopefully see her gradually come to life before me.

(Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. To find out more abut the Arts Council visit http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/)

Inspiration in the strangest places

2011-08-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

I often feel like a bit of a fraud when people ask me who my favourite writers are. They seem to be a small, insular crowd which people don’t particularly associate with literary prowess. It seems slightly disingenuous to say that my greatest influences have been records. I’m always attracted to works in which the listener can be drawn in by three or four rich threads. For instance, in Siri Hustvedt’s wonderful novel What I Loved, I found myself enraptured by four or five circling themes that rose recurrently like distant riffs. The idea of faded romance, the way art reveals the psyche of its creator, the vertigo in trying to reign in someone who always remains unknowable, even to themselves.

Giving the audience that room is something that in my own writing I’m always trying to achieve. Paul Auster has written eloquently about how he intends his books to ultimately give the reader room to find themselves in. It is perhaps just something I have just found it easier to do with records.

The Cures Disintegration is one example. It was Robert Smiths last attempt to create a masterpiece before he turned thirty. It’s a textured album full of washing synths and chattering drum patterns, stately and textured. Various songs concern broken bonds, missed opportunities, belated realisations. This world of regret, and to some degree indulgence, must not be to everyone’s taste. But I suspect such works are given potency because those unexpressed emotions can never find a place in the real world. But if captured on a record or on the page, they find a home where we can revisit them at will.

PJ Harvey’s often overlooked album ‘Is This Desire?’ was the first work which did this for me. She was the first person I’d known who didn’t sing about love in a saccharine, clichéd way. She sang about love as a complex, liberating, and often painful experience. The album is rich with elusive female characters, objects of desire living in exile, irrevocably tarnished by their obsessive love. The Angelene of the title track is ‘the prettiest mess you’ve ever seen’. One Catherine de Barra is ‘the patron saint of nothing’. The backdrop depicts nature at its most beautiful and bleak; a place where biblical characters persist in seeking redemption. That album taught me that through a character it was possible not only to make mouthpieces for your own emotions, but that you could also find yourself within their enclosed worlds. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that after hearing that album I tend to depict women empowered by the rules they have adopted in their life, wherever it takes them. Such albums remind me that like, life art, does not follow a linear narrative. It persists as a complex pool of interlinked themes that rise and fall like waves.

The Intimates in The View From Here

2011-08-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

Feel honoured to have a very considered review from the fabulous literary magazine The View From Here this month -

‘Mankowski’s ability to construct and develop his characters is formidable and the execution of this skill adds to the compelling nature of the book. The reader is taken on a journey through a vast array of intensive and moving experiences. Fascinating and compelling, ‘The Intimates’ is a deep and challenging book…definitely worth a read’.

To see the whole review...

http://www.viewfromheremagazine.com/2011/08/intimates-review.html

'The modern Great Gatsby'

2011-07-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

'The Intimates' has been kindly featured in Rookie Magazine's monthly Entertainment Chart along with Tracey Emin, The Saturdays and the final installment of the Harry Potter saga, where it's described it as 'a fascinating debut' 'a glamorous read' and 'the modern great Gatsby'. You can check out the fashion, culture and lifestyle magazine online at- http://www.rookiemagazine.com/

The Intimates. Guy Mankowski

The Closest An Author Gets To Going On Tour...

2011-07-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Some Upcoming Events For The Summer-

Reading from 'The Intimates' at Hartlepool Central Library, Wednesday 6th July from 6.30pm
http://www.hartlepool.gov.uk/events/event/1450/

Reading at the launch for Trashed Organ Zine ('A collective of gutter poets, musicians and artists') at The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle on July 13th at 7.30pm
http://www.trashedorgan.co.uk/

And reading at Heaton Arts Festival's 'Just Say The Lines' ('A suave evening of sophistication and glamour, with spoken word, martini’s and decadence all on the menu') at The Chillingham Arms, Newcastle, August 11th at 7.30pm
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=236356066382504

'Dance Makes The Invisible Visible'

2011-06-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

This week I had the pleasure of observing the work of one of the North East’s most sought after choreographers, Dora Frankel, while she rehearsed sequences for her next show ‘One Small Step, One More Step’. Having made her acquaintance a few weeks ago, and having mentioned that I was undertaking research into the world of dance for my next novel, Dora agreed firstly to be interviewed by me, and secondly to allow me to sit in while she developed her next work in progress. ‘One Small Step’ will see daylight as part of 'Bridging The Gap', an evening of performances, music and events. It is a site specific performance that will take place on and around The Apollo Pavilion in Peterlee, a concrete pavilion which is the work of the artist Victor Pasmore. The show promises to be a striking synthesis of visual art, dance and sound with the composer Peter Coyte supplying a varied, visceral soundtrack for it.

Although my novel is set ostensibly in the world of ballet, I was particularly intrigued to learn about the life of a dancer – most specifically how such a subtle, athletic pursuit manifests in the day to day. My novel is concerned with the life of a Russian dancer, Yelena, who captures her often complex inner world in a series of letters to Noah, her former lover. Writing from this viewpoint I was very keen to therefore gain an insight into how dancers interpret and respond to the challenges of their life. How they respond to internal pressures, what parts of their work they enjoy and how this focused form of work impacts upon them personally. From an outsiders’ point of view, the success of a dance performance seems contingent upon realizing the refined visions of a select few people, and I was particularly intrigued at how dancers and choreographers would interact to enable this. As Dora succinctly put it ‘dance makes the invisible visible’.

In the dance hall Dora was working with two dancers, Holly Irving and Natasha Kowalski, who were bringing to life Dora’s visions of a series of dance suites with what seemed to be a minimum number of props. Over the course of the few hours I got to see just how many different styles of dance Holly and Tasha were able to spontaneously perform. Until this week my view of choreographers were that they were probably all similar to the public perception of the rather brooding, incisive type as personified in The Black Swan. I was surprised therefore to see how enjoyable the process seemed to be, with Dora guiding the expression of her dancers interpretations while at the same time maintaining a strong vision.

As I tried to find a back seat in the hall, the dancers worked through a sequence driven by a pulsating, urban piece by Peter Coyte. It sounded like a hybrid of Aphex Twin and The Prodigy, with the dancers moving in a provocative, confrontational style that was evocative of grimy urban tenements, thick with the promise of inevitable violence. Peter Coyte worked from behind a bank of keyboards and glittering computer screens to supply a dextrous soundtrack that was constantly enthralling. I learnt only later that he’s worked alongside musical heavy weights such as Metallica, Bush and the Human League.

The next sequence was designed around a more joyous, exuberant piece of music, which the dancers imbued with a subtle comedy that was very engaging. I was struck by just how much the dancers were encouraged to explore the piece. The high standards of professionalism that had to be met at all times was very apparent – even in the short breaks between sequences Holly and Tasha were performing all manner of eye watering stretches. It was apparent that in the life of a dancer they are never off the clock, merely honing another aspect of their work. To be given even a flash of insight into such a multi-faceted, fascinating work in progress was a great honour, and I’m sure it will make for very useful research for my next book. I can only encourage you to attend the opening of One Small Step / One More Step at The Apollo Pavilion on July 10th from 5.30. Details are available from www.apollopavilion.info and http://www.dorafrankeldance.co.uk/

(Photos by Tony Griffiths)

Tutus and Moleskin Notebooks

2011-05-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

Writing can be a rather solitary venture; it’s not a pursuit usually requiring the company of off-duty ballerinas, eager to break into dizzying dance sequences at a moments notice. Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a Writing and Dance Workshop at Dance City, a location which has always intrigued me, due to its rather evocative air of artistic permissiveness.

I did this out of a combination of intrigue and duty. I’ve just started researching my second novel, Letters From Yelena, which is set in the world of ballet. I was keen to move my research beyond struggling to decipher Russian ballet websites and into the real world. The workshop was organised by the award winning Write Around The Toon, which is Project Managed by the author Viccy Adams. The workshop was ran by Alex Lockwood, a lecturer at Sunderland University. Until yesterday I had steered clear of writing workshops due to a rather precious fear I had about reflecting on the writing process, which I've fumbled through on my own over many years. But the workshop was an inspiring and somehow liberating experience, and in a matter of hours it blew away many of my misconceptions about creative workshops.

In it we were encouraged to explore our own conceptions of dance, to spend time amongst the dancers and to reflect on the creative atmosphere of the setting. The dancers offered an interesting juxtaposition next to the considered thoughtfulness of the writers – many of them flexed cautiously in corners, ready to break into a flurry of moves at a moments notice. As we clutched our moleskin notebooks (mine was £1.99 from the post office actually) and scribbled out observations, lycra clad limbs gambolled and stretched all around us. After watching clips from the recent show Singing Light, choreographed by Stephen Petronia, we improvised snippets of creative writing, and were coaxed into sharing them with the class. Personally I shared the concerns of one rather lucid fellow attendee, who expressed her reluctance to ‘sound like a bell end’ in so doing.

I was impressed by some of the vivid, colourful and sometimes very funny pieces other attendants seemed able to deliver at a moments notice. I initially resisted reading out my vague, formless scribblings to a roomful of strangers, before gradually warming to the idea amongst the bonhomie of the environment. I came away from the workshop with a sheaf of new ideas, a notebook full of needed details, and a renewed appetite for dance. Write Around The Toon are offering a series of mini-residencies across venues of interest in Newcastle over the coming months. I would strongly recommend going along to them if you have an interest in developing your versatility as a writer.You can find out more about Write Around The Toon at http://www.writearoundthetoon.co.uk/.

On Letting Your Baby Out Into The Cold

2011-04-13T05:14:00.000-07:00

I read a very interesting blog by fellow Legend Press author Ruth Dugdall the other day, who mentioned that prior to the release of her first novel she wished she had taken the time, just before the novel was released, to ask herself what exactly it was that she expected from her book when it was eventually published. A couple of local book signings, a mention in the local gazette? While I was writing The Intimates for the first time in my life I kept a journal, most of which is filled with vague romantic preoccupations and reflections on the copious numbers of gigs I was attending at that point in my life.

But flicking through it last night I noticed one or two mentions to the book that would eventually become The Intimates (known as The Fountains at the time, until my editor Lauren wisely instructed me that that sounded like a Barbara Cartland novel). Reading them I was struck by the rather humble ambitions I originally had for it. For it to be ‘a decent impression of a thoughtful book’. For it to be a way to exorcise certain demons lingering at the back of my mind, be they faded romances or little obsessions. For them to scratch certain itches left on me by visiting certain places, and dwelling amongst certain moods. At most, I hoped a few people would like it, and I was going to try my damndest when writing it in the hope that they might. And, effort wise, I did not let myself down. By the time it finally saw print, I had written and rewritten those bloody 51,000 words so many times that I knew passages of it off by heart – more out of frustration than vanity, I assure you.

Just before the book came out it started to gain some advance notices, which were exceptionally kind, and soon after followed the first reflections from Amazon customers, which I was pointed towards by a fellow author friend. I was fascinated to see that the book seemed to be garnering extreme reactions – at first of intense dislike, but later of an appreciate bent that I felt fairly touched by. Both reactions were interesting and – eventually – useful to me. Had I ever thought about it, I would have hoped for no more than for some people to have read it, and perhaps a couple to have even liked it.

Originally it took some adjusting to see that you could focus your efforts on a project which you had addressed with utmost sincerity, and that effort could garner strong dislike as well as appreciation. I was surprised to see the Amazon page for my book turn very quickly into a very considered forum for debate (with currently nineteen reviews and counting). Once I had got over my rather petulant adolescent hope, lingering inside me like an errant germ, that wanted everyone to like what I did, I started to realise that it was in fact just as instructive to have people disagree with your work than agree with it. I realised too that many of my favourite books and albums had provoked strong reactions when first released, and what are they if not something to aim for? Not that I would ever, even for a moment, put my work in their league, but novels like Easton Ellis’ Less Than Zero, and albums like The Cure’s Pornography – which on first approach could be easily seen as listless and uncommunicative.

I think I hoped, when writing The Intimates, that despite perhaps initial impressions I would have put enough into the book for it to eventually reveal itself in time. It didn’t mean that when some people didn’t like it at first I didn’t petulantly sulk like a spoilt child. But when an interviewer on BBC radio recently started to ask me questions about my ‘controversial new novel’, now that my skin had grown slightly thicker, I realised that this new suit was starting to fit a little more comfortably. But it doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t prefer five stars over two...

First published online 6th April on legendpress.co.uk

The Ghost Of Juliette Binoche

2011-04-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

One refrain that I often hear from people is that they ‘would love to write, but can never find the time’. Though I’m sympathetic to this statement – because for the best part of a decade I’d wondered when the novel twisting inside me would come out- I also find this question rather frustrating. As I’ve since learnt that the time to write your novel will never come. It will just have to be carved out, rather bloodily, from the series of bewildering compromises that modern life has now become.

To find the time to write my novel last summer, I simply had to quit my job. I had no money, and was pretty sure no magical grants were on their way. It was a terrifying but exciting prospect, having two months ahead of me with a growing overdraft and with nothing to do but write. But it had become clear that the book, which would eventually become The Intimates, was going to haunt me until I eventually acquiesced. It had been bothering me ever since I had first thought of the concept for it on holiday in Florence, and it was becoming like an ex-girlfriend who you can’t help still having a place for. The day I started writing it I experienced a real sense of vertigo as I realized that I could do whatever I wanted with it. On the wall of my bedroom I made a spider diagram of how each of the characters were linked to one another, and from this the characters started to step out of the shadows they had been lingering in for years. Eight pages of note paper, with a characters name at the top of each one, were pinned to my wall. Over the course of the next two months those pages became filled with notes. For instance- Elise had a secret second life as a burlesque dancer. Graham had a tendency towards transvestism, even if it usually only manifested itself in the odd streak of glitter. And Carina, despite her protestations, still hadn’t abandoned her childhood hopes of becoming a ballerina. Some of the characters even developed certain speech patterns that on occasion woke me in the middle of the night as they swarmed around my head. James for instance, spoke in the sort of halting drawl that Ben Kingsley had used in Sexy Beast. As it was summer, after a days writing I would usually go into the city for an evening drink with friends, or to see a band. And on occasion I’d be sure I’d caught a glimpse of Francoise, perhaps disappearing into an Italian restaurant wearing a black dress. Gradually, over many months, each of my characters started to find their voice.

The book is set at an opulent dinner party held by Francoise, the owner of a sprawling mansion who is celebrating her first novel with the eponymous characters. One advance review has described her character as someone who ‘effervesces like a twisted Juliette Binoche’. This gave me some satisfaction, as that had been exactly my intention. For years I had pored over the films of Anthony Minghella, inevitably starring Kristen Scott Thomas, and craved to one day live in that world of dark elegance. Writing The Intimates I was finally able to create that world, which had been beckoning me in for many years. But to me this wasn't a question of hankering for pure escapism, but more for resolving the mundane problems of our lives by having the imagination to create something better. In my day job I am training to be a Clinical Psychologist, work which has fed into my writing not least because it offers me some access into the inner worlds that each of us have. My job had many times allowed me to meet characters like The Intimates – people who despite their brilliance, have been thwarted and suppressed at every turn. Whose talents have caused them not liberation and transcendence, but festering wounds of bitterness. When I started to write The Intimates I therefore immediately felt at home in their company - as I was used to fighting their corner. What my work had not offered me was the setting in which their stories could finally burst into colour – though my novel did. The characters still don’t seem real quite yet – I’m hoping that when I finally hold a copy of the book I will feel a new sense of satisfaction, as they will now exist in the real world. I just wish there was a way to keep them there, and perhaps even angle for an invite to their next party.

Morden Tower Launch Party for The Intimates

2011-03-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

Eight days until my first novel is released...

2011-03-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

Starting to gear up now for the final stretch before my first novel is released, and experiencing a real mixture of feelings, some excitement but a huge amount of anxiety and real fear too. I'm starting to do my first interviews for it now, including prerecording one for BBC Newcastle on Jonathan Miles' Midmorning Show tomorrow. It's been a long time coming, and will feel strange when the date finally comes.

I've been fortunate enough to be offered the use of Morden Tower, Newcastle for the launch party of the book on Thursday 25th March. It's a great venue which has seen readings from the likes of Seamus Heaney and Allen Ginsberg between its walls. In fitting with the theme of the novel my publishers have decided on the optional theme of 'decadence' for the night, which should mean the photos are slightly different from when Mr Ginsberg made an appearance...

Am also appearing the day after with Matthew Crow, Andy Kirby and Legend Press MD Tom Chalmers at York Writing Festival, making an appearance on the New Authors Panel. Mr Crow and I will be joining up again on the 2nd April for a joint signing at Waterstones Newcastle, and on 16th April at Waterstones Gateshead. Our publishers clearly see us as some sort of double act. I like to think of us as...

But suspect we are more...

The Intimates 'Haunting, Evocative and Enchanting' says Tarttelin

2011-02-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

Abigail Tarttelin, star of 'Schrodinger's Girl', 'Taxi Rider' and author of the forthcoming 'Flick' has written a review of my debut novel 'The Intimates' -

"An intricately wrought and enchanting first novel, The Intimates is a measured, literary piece of work as hauntingly evocative of its setting and characters as Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer prize winner Housekeeping. Mankowski acutely and dexterously peels back the layers of his flaw-ridden characters to reveal complexities of desire and influence that whir the cogs within us all. The setting is sublime, an atmospheric country home with a deceased ex-proprietor, a secret passageway and wild, untamed grounds; the story playing out on the evening of a party thrown, at first glance, in celebration of their host’s first published novel. But in some way each of the group is broken, and new author Francoise, who effervesces like a twisted Juliette Binoche seductively from Mankowski’s pages, intends to make her old friends confront their lapsed destinies and lost potential. Will this confrontation be a collision or a catharsis? Will the group be brought closer together or will this evening spell the end for The Intimates?

Mankowski’s real triumph is his ability to transport you to the world of his novel, the words less leaping off the page than ensnaring the reader in their aura, igniting our empathy for the stumbling, well-meaning innocence of its protagonist Vincent. The themes of the novel conjure Ibsen’s Ghosts, yet also register close to home, with a sensitively executed and poignant exploration of maturity, letting go, and living in the shadows of the past.

Mankowski creates an evocative and tangible landscape of missed opportunity and lost innocence, filled with characters at once idiosyncratic and familiar, building to a final act full of surprises. Adeptly rendered and keenly observed, The Intimates is a promising and perceptive debut by an exciting new talent."

Abigail Tarttelin's 'Flick' is published by Beautiful Books on April 7th.

Anna Calvi

2011-01-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

For me, Anna Calvi is the first performer in a long time to have an onstage persona so distanced from her natural self as to be almost unrecognisable. In interviews she’s quiet, thoughtful, always hiding behind a thick mane of blonde curls. Onstage she’s ferocious, snarling, and seemingly on a revenge mission that no number of flamenco scorched blues numbers will absolve. She reminds me of this lady –

I first fell for her work, after watching a performance of her on the French TV channel Arete. Where bands like Arcade Fire portray the current state of affairs, performers like Anna Calvi offer a means of escape to somewhere more glamorous, which in grim times seems very important. She’s currently fuelling late night writing binges as I try to start my second book. In an age of reality tv ‘stars’ and whitewash landfill indie Anna Calvi is certainly worth cherishing.

Some advance notices for The Intimates

2011-01-29T10:06:00.000-08:00

‘A huge accomplishment. With expert prose Mankowski draws the reader into a world where layers of secrets are slowly and skilfully stripped away. Lyrical and yet accessible, with character dynamics to die for…’ Gary Murning, author of ‘If I Never’

‘Guy Mankowski's debut novel, The Intimates, manages that all too rare feat of being a deeply psychological character study whilst at the same time playing out as a bonafide page-turner. Excellently paced, insightfully created, and with moments of genuine genius, The Intimates is an opulently written, high concept piece which explores the psychology of human relationships, and especially the dynamics of groups. Here we meet characters of genuine depth. Through them, Mankowski explores themes such as the darker side of intimacy and friendship; scadenfreude, jealousy, petty rivalries - but the characters are more than mere ciphers for psychological analysis. They are living, breathing people, whose mutual understanding, whose deep bonds are rooted deeper than the surface difficulties.

This is a novel about the weight of memory set against the lightness of momentary release. It's about the pressure of expectation versus inability to achieve. It's about nepotism and parents setting unrealistic targets for their children. Nobody fucks you up like your parents do, as the old cliche goes, and never is this more true than in the incestuous community which Mankowski creates. But ultimately, this is a tale of redemption, and the consensus seems to be that family doesn't always have to be about flesh and blood. Genuine intimacy can be about more than that. It is also, in the end, a rejection of other ways of life, and in the end, is a justification for the almost old-fashioned intimacy between man and woman. When all is stripped away, and all the talk's been talked, it's about the narrator, Vincent, and his love for Carina.

The book is rich in wonderful imagery. This commentator's particular favourites being the anaolgy of talent as a 'feral beast' (which was simply brilliant) and the stand-alone image of the melting ice-sculptures. Mankowski proves himself as much a poet as a psychologist here. Poignant, truthful, and unflinching in its honesty, whilst managing, at the same time, to be a brilliant reflection of group, and party life. The Intimates themselves are a mighty creation; bursting with glamour but streaked with pain. They are Amy Winehouses in 20's garb with smudged eyeliner, they are fancy-dressing New Romantics seizing all of life by the throat. They are real and yet, at the same time, they are larger than life, which is a pretty good summary of Mankowski's writing, when it comes down to it. Mankowski has a timeless style, highly polished, brilliantly evocative. He writes of things and people in whom we can recognise something of ourselves, or rather, of the magical people we always wished we could be. They're the cool crowd at university, the crowd everyone wanted to be a part of... And yet Mankowski has moved them on a few years, to the time when the first signs of mortality are starting to kick in. With their crow's feet comes terrible self-awareness and the knowledge they might not make of themselves everything they hoped they'd be, and everything the image of themselves which they projected to the world at large, suggested.

The Intimates was the first novel I'd read on my Kindle device, and I kinda worried that by reading it on an impersonal screen, it might take something away from the writing. Nothing could have been further from the truth. On a couple of occasions, I found myself physically trying to turn the page. Mankowski succeeded in transporting me to another world, and his writing proved it didn't matter what the medium was... Simply brilliant." Andy Kirby, reviewer for The New York Journal of Books and author of ‘Bully’.

The Intimates is released on 26th March 2011.

Pre-order 'The Intimates' on Amazon

2010-11-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

After weeks of nipping and tucking, assisted by my tireless editor and late night cups of coffee The Intimates is ready for release. Its publisher Legend Press today released the following blurb for it on their website-

'The Intimates believe that they are the epitome of glamour. For this group of eclectic friends life is a playground as they sing, act and write their way to their dream lifestyles.

But all is not as it seems.

Invited to celebrate one evening together, there is a sinister undertone that threatens to expose each of these brilliantly talented failures. Dark secrets unravel, and ugly truths are revealed as each person desperately tries to hide what’s buried beneath the shimmering surface.

Each trapped in a pristine image their masks begin to slip and, for some, start to disintegrate in a way that will alter their lives forever.'

It can be pre-ordered from here-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intimates-Guy-Mankowski/dp/1907756469

The Enchanting and Tattered World Of Daniel Kitson

2010-10-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

Daniel Kitson is a shambolic, hysterical and thrillingly creative comedian. I’ve been lucky enough to see him twice this year and both times his work has had a huge impact. He eschews large commercial shows in favour of gigs often held in small and intimate venues. I’ve never seen a comedian so able to draw waves of relentless laughter from an audience while simultaneously offering so many insights into the human condition. He's so deft at sharing his own memories, in a manner that makes them seem universal, that he even makes you laugh at your own memories.

The first show I saw of his was entitled ‘66a Church Road’, which he described as ‘a break up show for my flat’. In it he used images of poignant scenes from his past, projected onto suitcases, in order to recount the love affair he had with his first home. In so doing he almost literally invited the audience into his world. He recounted key moments of romance and heartbreak he had there, times spent cooking and eating with his friends, ongoing tussles he had with his landlord. A large motivation in my own writing is trying to transform the mundane into something enchanting, something Kitson manages to do by reliving often absurd events without ever being indulgent. He seems to have perfected the knack of making his self-disclosures seem generous, even nourishing, while never ceasing to entertain.

The second show was titled ‘It's Always Right Now, Until It’s Later’ and was held very early in the morning. In it he recalled the fictional lives of Caroline Carpenter and William Rivington, though he stressed that the show was ‘no more a love story than the Bible is a book about woodwork’. With the aid of a stepladder, and a series of illuminated light bulbs suspended at various heights, he retold key moments in his protagonists’ lives, which he weaved together until it felt as if we knew them intimately. More than ever his love of language came through, and with it the realisation of how easily it can be enjoyed. One particularly funny riff closed with the words ‘And who among us doesn't enjoy the word 'toboggan'?’, which drew one of the biggest laughs of the night.

That show illustrated to me just how fleeting, abstract and often unacknowledged some of the most meaningful moments of our lives can be. How often seemingly innocuous moments can grow to be of major personal importance. He showed that despite how haphazard, confusing and often contradictory life can be, we can find always meaning in small moments, and in how we uniquely relate to the world.

Part of Kitson's charm (perhaps paradoxically, given his great openness) is his sense of self-preservation. He does not engage with promotional tools such as Twitter and there are very few YouTube links of his work available. Even his own website is so sporadically maintained that it was hard to tell what night the shows were on. But all this somehow gives his work a greater value, as it requires investment to ever access it. With his mastery of words and his stoic lack of compromise I couldn't help but think that his approach had quite a lot to teach many of us learning to disseminate creative work in the modern age.

When Can Fiction Overstep The Mark?

2010-09-24T05:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve long been fascinated by Richey Edwards- the fiercely intelligent, glitter drenched guitarist from The Manic Street Preachers who disappeared at the age of 27 on the brink of an American tour. I was therefore intrigued to find out this week that a novel has been written describing Richey’s life from his own perspective. ‘Richard: A Novel’ is being released in October, and is already courting some controversy. Nicky Wire, the bass player from The Manic Street Preacher’s this week wrote in the NME that he found the book ‘too upsetting to finish’ and that ‘when you make fiction out of someone you forget that they’re a real human being’.

My gut instinct is to agree. Though I applaud Myer’s attempt to present Richey as not just a rock star, but as an academic and young man, will this novel not just contribute to the myths that already surround him, and therefore make it harder to have a clear idea of what Richey was really like? Paradoxically, it seems that the more that is written about people who are not around to give their own account, the more they seem to become shrouded in mystery.

Urban myths and popularly used images of them become our perception of what they were as people, more than being mere ‘press shots’ taken at brief moments in their life. Their very identity just becomes another part of the ether, and increasingly more difficult to define. I remember reading an extract from Richey’s diary in Select Magazine in the mid nineties, when he described how he’d ‘rather fall in love with a washing machine than a woman’. Reading an extract from Myer’s undeniably well written novel this morning I could not help but wish that Richey had written an account of his life from his own perspective, so that some of the countless questions about him could have been answered in his own inimitable voice…

The Intimates

2010-09-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited that today Legend Press have announced the release of my first novel 'The Intimates'- which is due for publication in early 2011. They describe the novel as 'depicting an evening with a group of eclectic friends, gradually uncovering the ugly and brutally honest truths that can go unmentioned for so long. With Guy's unique writing style, the characters unravel before the reader with a sense of almost unsettling realism.'

Having worked with Lauren, Tom and Lucy on the collections 'Eight Rooms' and 'Ten Journeys' I'm very excited to be able to continue doing so in the future. They're a very dedicated, exciting and groundbreaking publishing house, and it's great to be on their books alongside such fantastic authors as Zoe Jenny, Bonnie Greer and Gary Murning.

For more information check out Legend Press at-

http://forward.legendpress.co.uk/mainsite/2010/09/announcing-the-intimates-by-guy-mankowski.html

Ps this Saturday I'll be joined by Andy Kirby for the final book signing of Ten Journeys at Waterstones, Darlington between 12 and 3pm.

Yelena Yemchuck

2010-07-22T02:48:00.000-07:00

Local Authors Sell Out

2010-07-15T04:08:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I joined the laconic and charming Dave Foxall at Waterstones in Darlington to promote Ten Journeys, the new Legend Press collection which we both feature in. Whether we simply had no shame pimping ourselves or whether the people of the North East were in a good mood I don't know, but we managed to sell out of copies during the signing. The Northern Echo came down to photograph the occassion - here you can see me standing up while Dave sits down.

On the 11th September I'll be returning for another signing with Andy Kirby, ebullient and provocative author of the excellent novels 'Bully' and 'The Magpie Trap'. And while we're on the subject on 7th August I'll be promoting Ten Journeys at Waterstones Newcastle with Matthew Crow, author of the novel 'Ashes'.

'This one's here, this one's here, this one's here and this one's here. And everything's for sale'

from Yes by the Manic Street Preachers.

Explosions of Glitter and Celebration - The Haunting World of Lonelady

2010-03-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

On the rare occasions that I am inspired by a new band, it is often the atmosphere surrounding them that draws me in. I often use music as a three minute portal to the type of life I hanker for, or even as another stepping stone towards that life. The most generous music offers you that opportunity, and gives you space in which to invest in your own imagination. But when the world a piece of music offers is ill-defined, or overly stylized, the romance with it is inevitably short-lived. But if music stands up to scrutiny, after a period of digestion it soon becomes part of the furniture of your life.

Lonelady is the first artist for a long time to pass that test for me. In a recent interview she talked about how you when you finish a piece of work you ‘expect explosions of glitter and celebration’ but how ‘that doesn’t happen at all’. I’m starting to learn about that feeling of anti climax, when you put out a piece of work you have agonized over, only to see it inevitably caught up in the maelstrom of other new releases. She discussed how she feels dislocated from the things she sees on TV, and how her music stems from an era that in many ways is behind us. I really related to that tenuous quest for something difficult to define, that in many ways is beyond reach. Her music is evocative of Factory era Manchester, when guitars were brittle and textured, drums were spectral and the sounds of malfunctioning lifts and Manchester streets lingered behind the instruments. If there is a vein of something running through my writing I hope that it is that pursuit for vague worlds that briefly engaged in some tangential way. As someone who’s constantly looking for new links to forgotten worlds like these, I found it inspiring to read that in that respect I was not alone.