Welcome to the Meridian Strip by me, Gary Raymond. It’s going to be a weekly(ish) newsletter that will shoot directly to your inbox either as a long form essay, a not all that short essay, or a collection of much smaller ones depending on how the week(ish) has gone and what has occurred to me to inspire me to write something about it. I will be focussing largely on what is now known as the personal essay, so although I’ll be striving to keep things relevant and universal for your sake, I will be approaching subjects from an unapologetic me me me angle.
For a taster, here’s some subjects I have provisionally lined up for the first volume of newsletters:
George Harrison (and the All Things Must Pass 50th anniversary remaster)
Tove Jansson (and her new place in nouveau lesbian cinema)
Ian Rush (and the footballing “work ethic” of my childhood)
John le Carré (and turning espionage fact into espionage fiction)
The Green Knight (and the childhood nightmare of the Sean Connery movie)
Love Island (and how much Samuel Beckett would have enjoyed it - [I almost certainly won’t write this one])
I’m looking forward to writing these, but they may change, morph into something else, or take one new forms entirely. But I hope it gives you an idea of the sort of thing to expect, and makes you want to try out Meridian Strip.
I will even endeavour to recommend some things I’ve been watching and reading and listening to, so at least you’ll have that, eh?
And feel free to email me and tell me which of the above you’d like to read the most, and I’ll see if that doesn’t help me write it.
Thanks for reading.
ABOUT ME
I am a novelist (three so far) and non-fiction author (including an entire book dedicated to how much I hate Love Actually); I’m a regular arts and culture critic on BBC radio, and host of The Review Show on BBC Radio Wales. I am also the editor of Wales Arts Review.
The Meridian Strip is a place where I’ll write on subjects about which I’m passionate. So, why not sign up now so you don’t miss the first issue.
In the meantime, tell your friends!