back to journalism
- Václav Havel: the compulsion of a dissident, Prospect, 20 December 2011
- Truth and dare, a sketch of Norman Lewis as adapter of reality, Condé Nast Traveller, July 2008
- Companion volume, a tribute to Gerald Brenan, Daily Telegraph, 10 March 2008
- A man apart, portrait of Imre Kertész, appeared in the Guardian, 22/04/2006
- Living with ghosts, portrait of Ismail Kadare, Guardian, 17/09/2005
- “His voice is unique”, sketch of the first Man Booker International prize winner Ismail Kadare, Guardian, 3 June 2005
- Chekhov’s last hours, an investigation into the writer’s death in 1904, Daily Telegraph, June 2004
- Close to the heart of the matter, a memoir of Yvonne Cloetta, Guardian, March 2004
- Witness to the world, a short essay on Norman Lewis, Prospect, October 2003
- The militant magician, portrait of José Saramago, Guardian, December 2002
- The faces behind the mask, the last interview with Eric Ambler, Guardian, January 1997
- Journey to the centre of the psyche, interview with Oliver Sacks, Guardian, October 1996
- The happy wanderer, interview with Norman Lewis, Guardian, May 1996
- The heart of the matter, interview with Yvonne Cloetta, Guardian, September 1994
- Anna and I, a portrait of Lydia Chukovskaya’s friendship with Anna Akhmatova, Guardian, June 1994
- Constantinople on foot, Antibes in a Jaguar, interview with Patrick Leigh Fermor, Guardian, October 1992
