Times Literary Supplement • 28th April 2022 Podcast Interview On the TLS podcast, I discuss my review of Emma Smith's 'Portable Magic'
Times Literary Supplement • 28th April 2022 Review: 'Portable Magic' A bibliophile critic’s powerful ‘shelfie’-portrait
The Economist • 12th April 2022 Blanca Li is a choreographer unlike any other Her latest project brings dancers and visitors together via virtual reality
Times Literary Supplement • 5th November 2021 Review: 'The Library: A fragile history" A 3,000-year survey of libraries, and the personalities behind them
The Economist • 21st October 2021 A new play stages excerpts from the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry Legal transcripts are allowed to speak for themselves in a “verbatim” production
Times Literary Supplement • 10th September 2021 Review: 'Index, A History Of The' A history of the book index must, in part, be a history of mighty scholarly efforts
Times Literary Supplement • 21st May 2021 Review: 'Burning the Books' How books and archives are lost
The Economist • 6th May 2021 How Ontroerend Goed took their confrontational drama online The troupe is known for putting its audiences under pressure. How might that work on Zoom?
Times Literary Supplement • 6th April 2021 Review: 'Learning Through Images in the Italian Renaissance' This thoroughly researched study of illustrated pedagogical manuscripts uncovers a scholarly diet that was diverse, popular and above all practical
The Observer • 14th March 2021 Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize: 'The Duchess of Malfi' Review In this runner-up review, James Waddell describes the surprisingly visceral experience of watching the Almeida’s 2019 production of Webster’s great revenge tragedy online
Elephant • 23rd February 2021 The Unexpected Solace of Art Books Under Lockdown With many museums around the world closed, lavishly illustrated books can offer a tangible experience of art that doesn’t involve leaving the house.
The Economist • 13th January 2021 The Royal Court takes inspiration from the Federal Theatre Project Lessons from an artistic programme set up during the Depression are being applied at a British playhouse
The Economist • 17th December 2020 Saki was one of the greatest satirists of Christmas Born 150 years ago, Saki was a master of social observation who sided with life’s rebels
The Economist • 7th May 2020 Podcast Interview On The Economist's 'The Intelligence' podcast, I discussed the 150th anniversary of the Met Museum
Times Literary Supplement • 7th May 2020 Podcast Interview On the TLS podcast, I discussed my review of Judith Flanders' 'A Place for Everything' with Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi
Times Literary Supplement • 30th April 2020 Accident of initial letters Review of 'A Place for Everything: The curious history of alphabetical order' by Judith Flanders
The Economist • 14th April 2020 A sober sesquicentennial for the Met Museum Though the 150th birthday celebrations will be muted, the occasion is an opportunity to reflect on a great institution’s history
Prospect • 19th February 2020 "Book murderer": Why debates on the way we treat our books aren't actually about reading Why do people cleave so strongly to one side or another of the bibliographical culture war?
The Times Literary Supplement • 15th December 2019 Spiky and descending David Rundle's 'The Renaissance Reform of the Book and Britain' contains several strokes of adept codicology
The Economist • 11th December 2019 Nativity plays occupy a vexed place in Britain’s national psyche Rather like horror movies, nativities have reflected Britons’ fears