I love the intimacy and immediacy oF radio. You’re right there and SO AM I.  More than anything, I love listening.

Right now you can catch my new Fiction Serial on BBC Radio 4. It’s called Operation Rex and you can binge it all on BBC Sounds.

It’s about another hidden history, a moment I found in a footnote and have not been able to stop thinking about. It’s set right at the start of World War II as the world teeters on the brink of fascism and features a crying Prime Minister, a flock of liberated canaries, a Glaswegian housekeeper who won't let you sleep in and one brave gay boy and his even braver Westie.

It’s read beautifully by John Paul Hurley and produced brilliantly by Eilidh McCreadie. It’s very much inspired by Lucy and Jock, the Westies I grew up with. 

I’m a regular on Radio 4 where, for a time, I hosted Front Row - Dolly Parton, Javier Marías and Brad Pitt were among my favourite guests. In 2023, I hosted Whose Truth Is It Anyway? which considered the truth we (don’t) tell in memoir, fiction and autofiction. In 2022. I made an Archive on 4 show for BBC Radio 4 looking at the history and future of Pride. In 2021, I hosted my own series for BBC Radio called Guide Books, which considered how books might help us with the messy business of living. Our themes included The Body and Grief and our guests included Sarah Perry and Helen Macdonald. The series was a ‘pick’ in the Radio Times, Guardian and Telegraph and you can catch it on BBC Sounds. 

As well as hosting shows I’ve written plays and essays for radio.  These include Summer Son, a little ghost-love story about a gay student trapped on campus one summer because he can’t go home. And an essay for From Our Home Correspondent on my continued quest to find glow worms. I’m very proud of the documentary I made about Pride.

my literary Salon is still available as a podcast and features hundreds of readings and interviews including world premieres and UK firsts. You can listen here: