Alex North
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alexnorth.co.uk
Alex North
@alexnorth.co.uk
Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling crime writer, based in Leeds, UK. I publish as Alex North but my friends call me Steve. www.alexnorth.co.uk
“It is a rare talent to be able to write a compulsive thriller with such heart … both terrifying and heart-wrenching, bittersweet and hopeful, nightmarish and deeply, deeply human.”

Thank you, @spookyrebecca.bsky.social

The Man Made of Smoke is out in the UK as a very lovely paperback today.
November 6, 2025 at 5:04 PM
This is a really great speech about the value of the arts and storytelling, and the importance of empathy.
A few thoughts on art: art plus intent, and the human connections and empathy of live performance. From The Art of Tax Reform Summit 2025 in NSW.
Tim Minchin’s Full Speech at The Art of Tax Reform Summit 2025 - NSW, Australia
YouTube video by Tim Minchin
youtu.be
November 1, 2025 at 5:00 PM
“Surprisingly packed with profound humanity” is a lovely thing to read. Thank you so much, Linda.
November 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
I forgot to mention on here that I had a ‘new’ book out in the UK last week. Dark Room was previously published years ago under my real name, and then went out of print.

It won’t set the world on fire, or anything, but it’s nice to have it out there again.

Four more of them to come…
October 23, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Alex North
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Alex North
reminder: Jimmy Kimmel is enough of a mensch that he devised a segment on which actors who are just short of having enough work to qualify for union healthcare come on his show and deliver a single line of dialogue

deadline.com/2024/07/jimm...
‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Once Again Aims To Help Working Actors Get Health Insurance With New Casting Notice
Jimmy Kimmel wants to help actors get health insurance with a new casting notice for his talk show
deadline.com
September 18, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Reposted by Alex North
August 26, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Alex North
The link below is a subscriber link with a handful of free clicks.

Maybe a kindly FT staffer will share a gift link... 👀
“It’s almost taboo among writers to say, ‘I am interested in finding out what a person could do with this technology.’”

I spoke to @naomialderman.bsky.social, @richbeard.bsky.social and Sarah Hall about what AI means for novelists, in this week’s @ftweekend.com Books Essay:
Will AI put fiction writers out of work?
Authors Naomi Alderman, Curtis Sittenfeld and more on why artificial intelligence is stirring fears for the future of book publishing
on.ft.com
August 2, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Filmed in Leeds city centre! And judging by the clock, if it had been ten minutes later then I’d have been in the background. (Really lovely song too.)

youtu.be/BQDDbesNPJ4?...
TIM MINCHIN - NOT PERFECT (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
YouTube video by Tim Minchin
youtu.be
July 30, 2025 at 1:35 PM
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New—and packed!—column is up at @crimereads.bsky.social. This time, I talk about novels by Michael Farris Smith, @alexnorth.co.uk, @carlhiaasen.com, @kairarouda.bsky.social, Katia Lief, and Rob Hart.
crimereads.com/gabino-igles...
Gabino Iglesias: Let’s Talk About Some New Books
I have such a fantastic column for you this month! Want to know why? Well, there are half a dozen awesome novels here, but the main reason you’re getting such a lengthy column is that I read …
crimereads.com
July 18, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Alex North
This post by @lewisgoodall.com on the Afghan super-injunction should be read - and read *very* carefully - by all with any interest in law and policy in the UK.

And he is spot-on about Mr Justice Chamberlain.

goodallandgoodluck.substack.com/p/my-two-yea...
My two years in secret court: How UK governments hid a national scandal
The government put 100,000 Afghans at risk of death. Then used the force of law in a constitutionally unprecedented way to prevent anyone finding out.
goodallandgoodluck.substack.com
July 17, 2025 at 8:49 AM
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⏰ Last chance to vote! The shortlist vote closes tonight, Thursday 10 July at 23.59. Hurry and vote for you favourite to win the coveted Theakston's cask 👉 https://bit.ly/VOTETOP25

@brookmyre.bsky.social @mwcraven.bsky.social  @ellygriffiths.bsky.social  @radiomukhers.bsky.social
July 10, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Absolutely brilliant news!
We are thrilled to announce that Elly Griffiths has been awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution award in recognition of her exceptional contribution to crime fiction. Congratulations @ellygriffiths.bsky.social!

Find out more 👉 https://bit.ly/EllyGriffithsOCAward
July 8, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Alex North
The Salt Path (post-credits scene):

*Moth & Raynor Winn enter their home to find Hannah Ingram-Moore & Johann Hari waiting for them*

Hari: "I'm putting together a team."
July 6, 2025 at 10:20 AM
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With this and Captain Tom, it's getting hard to trust people who go on really long walks.
July 6, 2025 at 8:47 AM
The Prodigy are laying absolute fucking waste to that field right now.
June 29, 2025 at 9:25 PM
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OK, so here’s my JJ Abrams story…

Before I started working in digital restoration one of my primary jobs in post-production support was running the in-house theater and screening rooms at work. Every now and again it would get booked for casting sessions, because it was perfectly suited for that…
Happy birthday to the composer of the theme music to the nonexistent 70s private detective TV series “Chuck Taggart, Private Eye!”

That’s one hell of a story. I suppose it’s about time I told it…
June 27, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Reposted by Alex North
Oh my.

I can’t stop rewatching.

The stuff of courtroom nightmares.

(H/T @timmorton2.bsky.social)
I need all of #lawsky to see this video from a Colorado appeals court livestream yesterday. I am in actual tears. Sound *incredibly* on, the subtitles will not help.
June 19, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Reposted by Alex North
Outreach work is at the heart of our ethos: promoting engagement with the arts in Harrogate & beyond through collaborations with our local communities. We're incredibly grateful to our funders, the Wild Foundations, for supporting us to make these workshops happen.

‘Who dunnit’ murder mystery workshops for school kids | Harrogate International Festivals
bit.ly
June 16, 2025 at 4:31 PM
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“A deranged maniac impersonated a police officer and killed lawmakers but if you’re an immigrant be sure you immediately comply with plain clothes people who won’t identify themselves telling you to get in a van”, what a fuckin country
June 14, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Alex North
You’ll be too young to remember, but there was a time when you could wake up as many as three mornings in a row and not find the world had lost its fucking mind.
June 13, 2025 at 6:48 AM
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No one is safe.
California Sen. Alex Padilla handcuffed at Noem presser
The senator was stopped and shoved back by multiple men.
www.politico.com
June 12, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Alex North
A fantastic launch for the 2025 programme which has now been let loose on the world! Tickets at bloodyscotland.com/whats-on
June 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM