GUY MANKOWSKI

All too often as writers I think it’s very easy for us to get our ambition caught up with trying to making good art. A few years ago various novels on the go with which I had a lot of hopes and ambitions caught up with. But then a scene- in which a young boy remembers watching his sister perform with her band and how watching her changed him- pushed itself to the fore in my mind.   This one scene seemed to come from nowhere and almost write itself. When I shared it online there was a natural, organic reaction from strangers (very unusual, usually it’s like sending something out into a void!) and people said they really liked it and wanted more. While I ploughed on thanklessly with novels in which all these grand pseudo intellectual ideas were being played out through tortured plot lines I would sometimes, for my idea of fun, go back to that little story of his boy and his sister. What was curious was the extent to which (and I know this is common for writers ) my own experiences, s...

My next novel, ‘Camden Afterlife’, follows the wild summer of a teenage boy coming to terms with the loss of his sister, Emma, a star of the nineties Riot Grrrl music scene. Part of the novel is told through Emma’s diary, which he finds, and which offers him a way to gradually face up to what really happened to her.  The following is Emma’s first diary entry, in which she runs away from home to see PJ Harvey perform in London (and which describes a real gig)- Everything is coming to a head. So, in an attempt to prove his devotion to me Jay bought me a ticket to a PJ Harvey gig in London a few weeks ago. Setting me a collision course with Mum. The gig was on a school night. But of course, diary, I still went. Despite all the repercussions. Which even now, two weeks later, are still being felt. I still went, because going to it is the only thing in my future that feels remotely related to what I want to do with my ...

Thought I should announce that my fourth novel, 'An Honest Deceit', is now available for pre-order on Amazon  here .  It's published in the UK, Europe, US and Japan on 20th October 2016.  Advance quotes - 'A book of outstanding quality. The beauty of this book resides in his actuality, and in the way the author eases the reader into it by choosing to tell the story directly from Ben’s perspective. I was increasingly intrigued by the sharp descriptions of the characters that after a few pages take up a life of their own. With this book I can genuinely say that Guy made me laugh, he made me cry some tears; he made me feel outraged for the injustice that his protagonist is subject to. Once I started reading, I could not stop. I wanted to know more. If I have a criticism to make is that I wish the book were longer.'   Daniela Quaglia, The Huffington Post With An Honest Deceit, Guy Mankowski has invented a new sub-genre i...