Publication Day Desk

Thank you to Charlie Porter for this inspiring photo of his desk - to celebrate the publication of Nova Scotia House, his first work of fiction, out from Particular Books (Penguin Press) today. The pile of notebooks on the lefthand side is the whole novel in longhand. But in fact a lot of it was written in the British Library, Charlie’s favourite place to write.

It has been so powerful to see early reader responses to Nova Scotia House, not only from other writers and press reviews like the amazing one from Neil Bartlett in the Guardian, but also from booksellers and bloggers.

Charlie has also been writing some brilliant pieces to accompany the novel, about the creative ways of living and making lost to the AIDS crisis: like this article on the lost queer genius of House of Beauty and Culture in the Guardian, and these articles in the Financial Times and i-D.

There have been several events this week in the lead up to publication, with more to come. The first on 17 March at Dover Street Market, where Charlie was in conversation with S.S. Daley.

DSM photos © Jordan Core

On 18 March Charlie was in conversation with Princess Julia at Donlon Books. Today he will be in conversation with Olivia Laing at Daunt Books in Marylebone. 25 March is Gay’s The Word. Find out more about events here.

Charlie reads his own audiobook, if you want audio insight into the rhythm of the sentences.