Jonathan Coe
@jonathancoe.bsky.social
Writer. New novel is THE PROOF OF MY INNOCENCE. Previous titles include WHAT A CARVE UP!, THE ROTTERS' CLUB, MIDDLE ENGLAND, MR WILDER AND ME ...
https://linktr.ee/coelinks
https://linktr.ee/coelinks
Congratulations to the fabulous composer Mike Gibbs who today, aged 89, received an honorary degree from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. On display, delighted to see artefacts from his collaboration with Bill Forsyth on Housekeeping, plus the score of a tune that is very close to my heart.
November 13, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Congratulations to the fabulous composer Mike Gibbs who today, aged 89, received an honorary degree from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. On display, delighted to see artefacts from his collaboration with Bill Forsyth on Housekeeping, plus the score of a tune that is very close to my heart.
Kindle edition is £1.99 today until midnight.
www.amazon.co.uk/Proof-My-Inn...
www.amazon.co.uk/Proof-My-Inn...
November 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Kindle edition is £1.99 today until midnight.
www.amazon.co.uk/Proof-My-Inn...
www.amazon.co.uk/Proof-My-Inn...
I've had a few new followers today so if you're already starting to regret it and looking for an excuse to unfollow, here's some shameless self-promotion to make it easier for you.
October 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I've had a few new followers today so if you're already starting to regret it and looking for an excuse to unfollow, here's some shameless self-promotion to make it easier for you.
Also contains this classic piece of NYT explication.
October 13, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Also contains this classic piece of NYT explication.
Well, my selection would be equally wilful as these are my two favourites and apparently they're not liked much by Bley purists.
October 7, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Well, my selection would be equally wilful as these are my two favourites and apparently they're not liked much by Bley purists.
"Still a handful of tickets left" (I think that's the preferred BlueSky euphemism) for my event here next Friday.
www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org/book-tickets/
www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org/book-tickets/
October 4, 2025 at 10:24 AM
"Still a handful of tickets left" (I think that's the preferred BlueSky euphemism) for my event here next Friday.
www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org/book-tickets/
www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org/book-tickets/
Peaceful morning by the side of Lac d’Annecy, reading Sally Carson’s novel of rising Nazism. What a book! No need to point out the many parallels with today. Thanks to Persephone Books for rediscovering/reissuing it.
September 29, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Peaceful morning by the side of Lac d’Annecy, reading Sally Carson’s novel of rising Nazism. What a book! No need to point out the many parallels with today. Thanks to Persephone Books for rediscovering/reissuing it.
Predictable spin on today’s ugly announcement from our fash-hungry media.
September 22, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Predictable spin on today’s ugly announcement from our fash-hungry media.
There are presents, there are thoughtful presents, and there’s Ian Francis of Birmingham’s Flatpack Festival remembering an article you wrote for @lrb.co.uk three years ago and giving you an original piece of 1970s cinema memorabilia.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
September 21, 2025 at 9:08 AM
There are presents, there are thoughtful presents, and there’s Ian Francis of Birmingham’s Flatpack Festival remembering an article you wrote for @lrb.co.uk three years ago and giving you an original piece of 1970s cinema memorabilia.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Birmingham-bound in October …
September 15, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Birmingham-bound in October …
Paris! Munich! Vienna! Geneva! Chorleywood!
The Proof of My Innocence is going on tour.
Full details here: jonathancoewriter.com/events/
The Proof of My Innocence is going on tour.
Full details here: jonathancoewriter.com/events/
September 5, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Paris! Munich! Vienna! Geneva! Chorleywood!
The Proof of My Innocence is going on tour.
Full details here: jonathancoewriter.com/events/
The Proof of My Innocence is going on tour.
Full details here: jonathancoewriter.com/events/
And the probable next leader of the Tory party
August 24, 2025 at 4:59 PM
And the probable next leader of the Tory party
The full version of my essay on my love affair with On Her Majesty's Secret Service can be found in this just-published anthology, along with fine pieces by 15 other writers.
You can order it online here: richardskinner.weebly.com/lsquothe-car...
You can order it online here: richardskinner.weebly.com/lsquothe-car...
August 24, 2025 at 4:48 PM
The full version of my essay on my love affair with On Her Majesty's Secret Service can be found in this just-published anthology, along with fine pieces by 15 other writers.
You can order it online here: richardskinner.weebly.com/lsquothe-car...
You can order it online here: richardskinner.weebly.com/lsquothe-car...
… and the bookstall had plenty of paperbacks to choose from in case your phone wasn’t working
August 10, 2025 at 11:12 AM
… and the bookstall had plenty of paperbacks to choose from in case your phone wasn’t working
… but at least you could get a proper drink on the station platform.
August 10, 2025 at 11:03 AM
… but at least you could get a proper drink on the station platform.
Liverpool Street departures board was not so hi-tech in 1974
August 10, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Liverpool Street departures board was not so hi-tech in 1974
Location footage fans! Last night Together TV, which screens some incredible 1970s curios at the weekends, unearthed a film from 1974 called Got It Made, described by its sole IMDb reviewer as ‘the most Norwich-centric film ever made’. I wonder if @djtaylorwriter.bsky.social knows about it?
August 10, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Location footage fans! Last night Together TV, which screens some incredible 1970s curios at the weekends, unearthed a film from 1974 called Got It Made, described by its sole IMDb reviewer as ‘the most Norwich-centric film ever made’. I wonder if @djtaylorwriter.bsky.social knows about it?
Last night's viewing: The Hospital (1971). Thoughts:
1. Shows Paddy Chayefsky's virtues (many great lines) and vices (many long hectoring speeches)
2. Film's attitudes towards rape and Native Americans have dated badly
3. George C Scott amazing
4. Feels like a huge influence on Britannia Hospital
1. Shows Paddy Chayefsky's virtues (many great lines) and vices (many long hectoring speeches)
2. Film's attitudes towards rape and Native Americans have dated badly
3. George C Scott amazing
4. Feels like a huge influence on Britannia Hospital
August 8, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Last night's viewing: The Hospital (1971). Thoughts:
1. Shows Paddy Chayefsky's virtues (many great lines) and vices (many long hectoring speeches)
2. Film's attitudes towards rape and Native Americans have dated badly
3. George C Scott amazing
4. Feels like a huge influence on Britannia Hospital
1. Shows Paddy Chayefsky's virtues (many great lines) and vices (many long hectoring speeches)
2. Film's attitudes towards rape and Native Americans have dated badly
3. George C Scott amazing
4. Feels like a huge influence on Britannia Hospital
The US edition is indeed paperback so maybe that's what you have. The UK pb edition will look like this:
August 5, 2025 at 4:17 PM
The US edition is indeed paperback so maybe that's what you have. The UK pb edition will look like this:
My novel The Proof of My Innocence comes out in paperback on October 2nd. I got bored signing 1,000 copies, so I made one of them slightly different to the others. Let me know if you spot it anywhere!
August 5, 2025 at 3:56 PM
My novel The Proof of My Innocence comes out in paperback on October 2nd. I got bored signing 1,000 copies, so I made one of them slightly different to the others. Let me know if you spot it anywhere!
I don’t always enjoy writing book reviews but the one I’ve just done for @lrb.co.uk was sheer delight - not least because of the background (re-)reading …
July 21, 2025 at 11:19 AM
I don’t always enjoy writing book reviews but the one I’ve just done for @lrb.co.uk was sheer delight - not least because of the background (re-)reading …
From @will-davies.bsky.social's brilliant LRB piece on Nigel Farage and TikTok.
This reinforces my belief that the MPs' expenses scandal, as reported endlessly by the Telegraph in 2009, has been the UK's most damaging/influential political story of the last 20 years.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
This reinforces my belief that the MPs' expenses scandal, as reported endlessly by the Telegraph in 2009, has been the UK's most damaging/influential political story of the last 20 years.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
June 22, 2025 at 6:15 PM
From @will-davies.bsky.social's brilliant LRB piece on Nigel Farage and TikTok.
This reinforces my belief that the MPs' expenses scandal, as reported endlessly by the Telegraph in 2009, has been the UK's most damaging/influential political story of the last 20 years.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
This reinforces my belief that the MPs' expenses scandal, as reported endlessly by the Telegraph in 2009, has been the UK's most damaging/influential political story of the last 20 years.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Saw this curio on Together TV last night. Also known as Incense for the Damned, adapted by Simon Raven, no less, from his novel Doctors Wear Scarlet, directed by the maverick Robert Hartford-Davis (Gonks Go Beat, The Sandwich Man). Ghost of a fascinating film somewhere beneath the exploitation junk.
June 22, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Saw this curio on Together TV last night. Also known as Incense for the Damned, adapted by Simon Raven, no less, from his novel Doctors Wear Scarlet, directed by the maverick Robert Hartford-Davis (Gonks Go Beat, The Sandwich Man). Ghost of a fascinating film somewhere beneath the exploitation junk.
Pipe down, Blofeld.
June 21, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Pipe down, Blofeld.
Anyway, I do recommend tracking it down if you can. Winger and Berenger are brilliant, the hunting scene is still spine-tingling, and as for its current resonance, given where America is today ...
June 21, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Anyway, I do recommend tracking it down if you can. Winger and Berenger are brilliant, the hunting scene is still spine-tingling, and as for its current resonance, given where America is today ...