Rick Gekoski
Rick Gekoski – described by Tatler as “think Bill Bryson, only on books” – is a writer, occasional broadcaster, and rare book dealer. He is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania (1966) and took a B. Phil and D.Phil. in English at Oxford. From 1971-1987 he was a member of the English Department of the University of Warwick. He has published a critical book on Joseph Conrad, The Bibliography of William Golding, Staying Up (a book on Premiership Football), and a collection of essays entitled Tolkien’s Gown and Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books, based on his BBC Radio 4 Series Rare Books, Rare People. A second series entitled Lost, Stolen, or Shredded: The History of Some Missing Works of Art was also broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and was published as a book in 2013. He has founded two private presses, The Sixth Chamber Press and The Bridgewater Press, which issue finely printed editions of leading contemporary novelists and poets. In 2005 he was one of the judges for the Man Booker Prize, and in 2011 he was Chair of the Man Booker International Prize. Rick has appeared at the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Bath Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Sydney and Melbourne Literary Festivals, Auckland and Wellington International Arts Festivals (NZ), and given talks to a wide variety of literary societies (The Grolier Club, Joseph Conrad Society, Graham Greene Society, Oscar Wilde Society, etc), schools and universities (Westminster, Winchester, Eton, Texas, Vassar, Emory, etc.). His non-fiction Outside of a Dog: A Bibliomemoir (2009) was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Award. His debut fiction novel Darke (2017) was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award and shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize. His new novel Darke Matter will be published by Constable in May 2020.
