Tempting times
Sunk in post-election gloom, novelist Richard Ford looks for signs of life among his fellow losersFirst, let me say that I hope I'm wrong. I was wrong about the election, after all. But, gradually, and...
View ArticleShort story: Pretty Boy by Richard Ford
Inside, the bar was enormous and insanely noisy and smoky and full of men, and the lights were grainy and bright into mirrored walls. The floor was tiny blue-andwhite tiled octagons, which made it all...
View ArticleShort story: Pretty Boy by Richard Ford
He was in the taxi with the French woman he'd met that afternoon. They were going up to the American Bar to watch the election returns. It was raining sheets, past midnight. The taxi, its little...
View ArticleRichard Ford on the tragedy of New Orleans
Who shall express the tragedy of New Orleans? One son of the city is the great American writer Richard Ford. In this passionate essay, he recalls personal experiences spanning a lifetime - and sees...
View ArticleThe Bush years: If we've learned anything, it's that we should never elect a...
If we've learned anything, it's that we should never elect a rich guy who says he hates government but can't wait to 'fix' itSo, we're left here at the bitter, congested end of the long Bush calamity,...
View ArticleRichard Ford, author of The Sportswriter, on the surprising, 'fortuitous'...
Did Richard Ford set out to create an 'everyman' in his narrator Frank Bascombe? Far from it, the author says - he's always wanted his characters to be individuals, and how a novel turns out is always...
View ArticleThis writing life, by Richard Ford
'I write novels and stories and essays for a living. But is it work?'I've always had uneasy loyalties about the relevance of the term "work" to the activities I perform every day, and which occupy the...
View ArticleRichard Ford: Money and the writer
'It mattered a great deal more to me that my novel would be published and possibly read than that somebody paid me'Money is an odd and complex subject to a writer. In America, at least, probably few...
View ArticleWriters and critics on the best books of 2013
Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, Mohsin Hamid, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Malcolm Gladwell, Eleanor Catton and many more recommend the books that impressed them this yearFive Star Billionaire by Tash...
View ArticleInternational bill of digital rights: call from 500 writers around the world
In a petition to the United Nations, a group of authors agree that democratic rights must apply in virtual as in real space• State surveillance of personal data is theft, say world's leading authorsA...
View ArticleRichard Ford, Joyce Carol Oates, David Hare and more ... leading writers on...
The Great Gatsby, Elmer Gantry, The Wizard of Oz – top writers choose books to make sense of the US electionMy old mentor and friend Shelby Foote used to say that a person couldn’t understand the...
View ArticleRichard Ford: Blame me. I voted for Hillary, and I got America all wrong
I can’t bear to think about what Trump’s victory is going to mean for my country. For now, the best I can do is think about what I misunderstood, and whyWhile the pundits are puzzling over what went...
View ArticleRichard Ford: ‘Who needs friends?’
Is friendship really all it’s cracked up to be, asks the US novelistAnd if they ever put a bullet through your brain, I’ll complain. It’s friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship … Cole...
View Article‘It’s been a lot’: Joyce Carol Oates, SA Cosby, Richard Ford and Margo...
Four leading American authors assess the Covid-battered first year of Joe Biden’s presidencyRichard Ford is a novelist and short story writer best known for his quartet of novels featuring the...
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