John L. Williams
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
Writer, festival organiser, CLR James biographer, winner of 'most improved player' award Tilburg Regents CC 2023. New book Heatwave, on the summer of 76, out this May
Pinned
New book is out today. Heatwave: The Summer of 1976. Britain at boiling point. Captured here in the wild.
'An absolute joy' said @petepaphides.bsky.social very kindly. Also available in non- chain bookshops!
'An absolute joy' said @petepaphides.bsky.social very kindly. Also available in non- chain bookshops!
So sorry to hear about the death of Daniel Woodrell. Dan wrote one of the very finest novels of the last fifty years in Winter's Bone and another that's not far off in Tomato Red. And aside from that he was a really good guy.
November 30, 2025 at 5:23 PM
So sorry to hear about the death of Daniel Woodrell. Dan wrote one of the very finest novels of the last fifty years in Winter's Bone and another that's not far off in Tomato Red. And aside from that he was a really good guy.
Reposted by John L. Williams
Really looking forward to reading this today, seems appropriate given the weather!
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
July 14, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Really looking forward to reading this today, seems appropriate given the weather!
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
You can hear me talking to Travis Elborough about the heatwave summer of 1976 here
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...
Radio Sohemia
Arts Podcast · Updated Biweekly · Radio Sohemia provides recordings of Q-and-As and talks hosted by the London-based Sohemian Society as well as interviews that aren’t staged in front of an audience. ...
podcasts.apple.com
July 6, 2025 at 7:56 PM
You can hear me talking to Travis Elborough about the heatwave summer of 1976 here
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...
Reposted by John L. Williams
A brilliant discussion of the 1976 heatwave, between Travis Elborough and author John L. Williams.
Full of both funny and deeply disturbing detail.
Full of both funny and deeply disturbing detail.
The Summer of 1976
Podcast Episode · Radio Sohemia · 06/07/2025 · 50m
podcasts.apple.com
July 6, 2025 at 8:00 AM
A brilliant discussion of the 1976 heatwave, between Travis Elborough and author John L. Williams.
Full of both funny and deeply disturbing detail.
Full of both funny and deeply disturbing detail.
Heatwave news from June 1976
June 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Heatwave news from June 1976
C'mon!
June 20, 2025 at 5:08 PM
C'mon!
Thank you!
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
This is just terrific. Lots of trips down memory lane and lots of stuff that passed me by as I was 11.
Have sent a copy to older sibling who I think will love it too
This is just terrific. Lots of trips down memory lane and lots of stuff that passed me by as I was 11.
Have sent a copy to older sibling who I think will love it too
June 19, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Thank you!
Reposted by John L. Williams
32 years ago today, Charlotte Greig did this fine piece on Moe Tucker in the Guardian (1 June 1993).
#MoeTucker #MaureenTucker #VelvetUnderground @robertrotifer.bsky.social
#MoeTucker #MaureenTucker #VelvetUnderground @robertrotifer.bsky.social
June 1, 2025 at 8:49 AM
32 years ago today, Charlotte Greig did this fine piece on Moe Tucker in the Guardian (1 June 1993).
#MoeTucker #MaureenTucker #VelvetUnderground @robertrotifer.bsky.social
#MoeTucker #MaureenTucker #VelvetUnderground @robertrotifer.bsky.social
Thanks Jo!
Just finished this brilliant book by my friend @johnelwilliams.bsky.social get yourself a copy, it’s wonderful!
June 12, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Thanks Jo!
Really enjoyed this interview
☀️ NEW EPISODE ☀️1976 is burned into our memory as the Ultimate Summer – yet Britain was beset economic and political failure. @johnelwilliams.bsky.social takes @nndroid.bsky.social into the High Noon of the Dark 70s.
😎 Get yourself a Sky Ray lolly and a petrol bomb and listen… linktr.ee/bunker_pod
😎 Get yourself a Sky Ray lolly and a petrol bomb and listen… linktr.ee/bunker_pod
June 12, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Really enjoyed this interview
Thank you Faber & Faber for sending me this on, um, May 29. Never too early!
May 29, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Thank you Faber & Faber for sending me this on, um, May 29. Never too early!
Hey! Heatwave is book of the week in the Times!
May 17, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Hey! Heatwave is book of the week in the Times!
Reposted by John L. Williams
HEATWAVE: The Summer of 1976 – Britain at Boiling Point by John L. Williams is out today with Octopus.
'Scorching, seething and scintillating, Heatwave conjures a slow-burning collage of a country on the brink. ' - Simon Garfield
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
www.waterstones.com/book/heatwav...
'Scorching, seething and scintillating, Heatwave conjures a slow-burning collage of a country on the brink. ' - Simon Garfield
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
www.waterstones.com/book/heatwav...
Heatwave by John L Williams | Waterstones
Buy Heatwave by John L Williams from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.
www.waterstones.com
May 8, 2025 at 2:22 PM
HEATWAVE: The Summer of 1976 – Britain at Boiling Point by John L. Williams is out today with Octopus.
'Scorching, seething and scintillating, Heatwave conjures a slow-burning collage of a country on the brink. ' - Simon Garfield
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
www.waterstones.com/book/heatwav...
'Scorching, seething and scintillating, Heatwave conjures a slow-burning collage of a country on the brink. ' - Simon Garfield
@johnelwilliams.bsky.social
www.waterstones.com/book/heatwav...
Cheers Barry!
Another lively launch for the prolific John Williams; toasting his steaming Heatwave: The Summer of 1976 were such luminaries as Cathi Unsworth, Travis Elborough, louche Sohemians Paul Willetts & Mark Glendinning, ..
May 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Cheers Barry!
Thank you Robin Askwith for the kind words re Heatwave!
May 8, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Thank you Robin Askwith for the kind words re Heatwave!
New book is out today. Heatwave: The Summer of 1976. Britain at boiling point. Captured here in the wild.
'An absolute joy' said @petepaphides.bsky.social very kindly. Also available in non- chain bookshops!
'An absolute joy' said @petepaphides.bsky.social very kindly. Also available in non- chain bookshops!
May 8, 2025 at 7:05 PM
New book is out today. Heatwave: The Summer of 1976. Britain at boiling point. Captured here in the wild.
'An absolute joy' said @petepaphides.bsky.social very kindly. Also available in non- chain bookshops!
'An absolute joy' said @petepaphides.bsky.social very kindly. Also available in non- chain bookshops!
New book out next week. Will be talking to Travis Elborough in the excellent Bookseller Crow on June 5. Come on down South London folks! @booksellercrow.bsky.social @andrewmale.bsky.social @martinmillar1.bsky.social
April 30, 2025 at 6:29 PM
New book out next week. Will be talking to Travis Elborough in the excellent Bookseller Crow on June 5. Come on down South London folks! @booksellercrow.bsky.social @andrewmale.bsky.social @martinmillar1.bsky.social
I have a new book coming out next month. Have to say I'm very happy with the cover.
April 14, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I have a new book coming out next month. Have to say I'm very happy with the cover.
Friday afternoon popped in Lorenzo's fine record shop in Brockley and came away with a scarcely credible thre albums for two quid. The Paul Brady is of course one of the finest albums ever made. Will have to consider who to give it to...
April 11, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Friday afternoon popped in Lorenzo's fine record shop in Brockley and came away with a scarcely credible thre albums for two quid. The Paul Brady is of course one of the finest albums ever made. Will have to consider who to give it to...
For my CLR James biography I talked to his closest living blood relatives (as of 2019), his niece and nephew Erica and Henno James, at the daycare center in Brooklyn where Erica worked. Charming people and I was dismayed when I couldn't find the photo of them I'd taken. Well it finally turned up!
March 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM
For my CLR James biography I talked to his closest living blood relatives (as of 2019), his niece and nephew Erica and Henno James, at the daycare center in Brooklyn where Erica worked. Charming people and I was dismayed when I couldn't find the photo of them I'd taken. Well it finally turned up!
V proud obv, but quite odd to see my son interviewed in the Guardian;
🚨 Read this in-depth interview with Owen from The Tubs & @timjonze.bsky.social for @theguardian.com 👀 📰 🚨
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/m...
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/m...
‘Saying you’re in a jangle-pop band is a red flag’: the Tubs talk speed, squalor and their glorious second album
As they embark on a UK tour, the band’s frontman recounts how terrible dates, struggles with OCD and a family tragedy all fed into their new record
www.theguardian.com
March 20, 2025 at 11:35 AM
V proud obv, but quite odd to see my son interviewed in the Guardian;
My son has a new record out! It really is very good.
"a blistering, joy-to-heartbreak masterpiece"
The Tubs' new album Cotton Crown is released today via @troubleinmind.bsky.social, and gets a 5* review from The Observer:
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/m...
The Tubs' new album Cotton Crown is released today via @troubleinmind.bsky.social, and gets a 5* review from The Observer:
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/m...
The Tubs: Cotton Crown review – a blistering, joy-to-heartbreak masterpiece
The London-based Welsh rockers follow up their great 2023 debut with more supercharged guitar, vintage songcraft – and a devastating conclusion
www.theguardian.com
March 7, 2025 at 1:07 PM
My son has a new record out! It really is very good.
Belated book day post of attractive jacket art - Peter Blake's quartet of Colin MacInnes Penguins. @andrewmale.bsky.social
March 7, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Belated book day post of attractive jacket art - Peter Blake's quartet of Colin MacInnes Penguins. @andrewmale.bsky.social
Saw Lyle Lovett in Cadogan Hall last night. He was clearly suffering with the flu but still a fantastic 2hr+ set. Extraordinary band (Leland Sklar & Russ Kunkel!), great songs, honest and moving chat. Opened with Flyin' Shoes, encored with North Dakota...
January 25, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Saw Lyle Lovett in Cadogan Hall last night. He was clearly suffering with the flu but still a fantastic 2hr+ set. Extraordinary band (Leland Sklar & Russ Kunkel!), great songs, honest and moving chat. Opened with Flyin' Shoes, encored with North Dakota...
Just read this for first time in decades. God, George V Higgins was good. Okay, he's reliant on long swathes of dialogue, but why wouldn't you be if you did it this well? This book is basically nine long conversations and one action scene, and has so much tension, intrigue and insight. Triff.
January 7, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Just read this for first time in decades. God, George V Higgins was good. Okay, he's reliant on long swathes of dialogue, but why wouldn't you be if you did it this well? This book is basically nine long conversations and one action scene, and has so much tension, intrigue and insight. Triff.