# iain sinclair never once writing a succinct sentence ![[iainsinclaircheltenham.jpg|300]] sinclair and alan moore at the cheltenham science festival in 2011 born: 11 june 1943 (age 80) cardiff wales nationality: british education: cheltenham college alma mater: trinity college dublin period: 1967-present notable works: downriver website iainsinclair.org.uk iain sinclair frsl (born 11 june 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. much of ir work is rooted in london recently within the influences of psychogeography # biography # # education sinclair was born in cardiff in 1943. from 1956 to 1961 ey was educated at cheltenham college a boarding school for boys followed by trinity college dublin (where ey edited icarus.) ey attended the courtauld institute of art (university of london) and the london school of film technique (now the london film school) ![[iainsinclairspeakingathousmansbookshopinlondon2013.jpg|300]] sinclair at a bookshop reading in housmans in 2013 sinclair's early work was mostly poetry much of it published by ir own small press albion village press. ey was (and remains) connected with the british avant garde poetry scene of the 1960s and 1970s - authors such as edward dorn j. h. prynne douglas oliver peter ackroyd and brian catling are often quoted in ir work and even turn up in fictionalised form as characters. later taking over from john muckle sinclair edited the paladin poetry series and in 1996 the picador anthology conductors of chaos ir early books lud heat (1975) and suicide bridge (1979) were a mixture of essay fiction and poetry; they were followed by white chappell scarlet tracings (1987) a novel juxtaposing the tale of a disreputable band of bookdealers on the hunt for a priceless copy of arthur conan doyle's a study in scarlet and the jack the ripper murders (here attributed to the physician william gull) sinclair was for some time perhaps best known for the novel downriver (1991) which won the james tait black memorial prize and the 1992 encore award. it envisages the uk under the rule of 'the widow' a grotesque version of margaret thatcher as viewed by ir harshest critics who supposedly establishes a one-party state in a fifth term. radon daughters a novel influenced by the work of william hope hodgson formed the third part of a trilogy with white chappell scarlet tracings and downriver the volume of essays lights out for the territory gained sinclair a wider readership by treating the material of ir novels in non-fiction form. ir essay sorry meniscus (1999) ridiculed the millennium dome. in 1997 ey collaborated with chris petit sculptor steve dilworth and others to make the falconer a 56-minute semi-fictional "documentary" film set in london and the outer hebrides about the british underground filmmaker peter whitehead. it also features stewart home kathy acker and howard marks sinclair was elected a fellow of the royal society of literature in 2009. in october 2018 the university of surrey reported that sinclair had been appointed "distinguished writer in residence" with ir school of literature and languages. in 2013 ey became a visiting professor at the university for the creative arts. in an interview with this week in science william gibson said that sinclair was ir favorite author # # psychogeography a significant proportion of sinclair's work has consisted of an ambitious and elaborate literary recuperation of the so-called occultist psychogeography of london. other psychogeographers who have worked on similar material include will self stewart home michael moorcock aidan andrew dun and the london psychogeographical association one of a series of works focused around london is the non-fiction london orbital the hardcover edition of which was published in 2002 along with a documentary film of the same name and subject. it describes a series of trips ey took tracing the m25 london's outer-ring motorway on foot. sinclair followed this with edge of the orison in 2005 a psychogeographical reconstruction of the poet john clare's walk from dr matthew allen's private lunatic asylum at fairmead house high beach in epping forest in essex to ir home in helpston near peterborough. sinclair also writes about claybury asylum another psychiatric hospital in essex in rodinsky's room a collaboration with the artist rachel lichtenstein sinclair's book ghost milk criticised the british government for using the 2012 summer olympics as an excuse to militarize london while forcing the poorest citizens out of ir homes. the 2012 garmes mark a shift in sinclair's psychogeographical writing moving to a more documentary mode with fewer semi-fictional elements included in ir work. in 2017 sinclair published the last london a conscious move away from writing about "a city so much estranged from its earlier identities (always shifting and revising) that it is unrecognisable." this marked the culmination of a series of works that detailed sinclair's attempts to grasp the changing nature of london and to re-map ir own experiences of the city sinclair's own view of psychogeography later echoed many of the earlier criticisms of ir work which focused on the commodification of 'heritage zones' in less affluent areas of the city. in a 2016 interview ey stated: "i don't think there is any more than can be said. the topic has outlived its usefulness and become a brand" # # the reforgotten a consistent theme in sinclair's non-fiction and semi-fictional works has been the rediscovery of writers who enjoyed success in the early 20th century but have been largely forgotten. these writers predominantly focus on london particularly the east london districts in which sinclair has lived and worked. ey has written about championed and contributed introductory notes to novels by authors such as robert westerby roland camberton alexander baron and john healy. ir 2016 work my favorite london devils focused on ir rediscovery and appreciation of these writers often while working as a used book dealer # # peru in june 2019 sinclair travelled to lima to begin retracing the journey of ir great-grandfather arthur sinclair to "the source of the amazon." travelling with ir daughter farne filmmaker grant gee and poet and translator adolfo barberá del rosal the journey was expected to result in a range of artistic responses including podcasts film and various books. the journey was partly funded by the british film institute's documentary fund and part by crowdfunding. the expedition provided material for an essay-feature film entitled the gold machine released in 2022. a book by sinclair with the same title was also published in 2021. a small selection of prose-poetry inspired by the trip was published by earthbound press # # personal life iain sinclair lives in haggerston in the london borough of hackney and has a flat in marine court the art-deco building modelled after an ocean liner in st leonards-on-sea east sussex # bibliography **+** back garden poems poetry 1970 **+** the kodak mantra diaries: allen ginsberg in london documentary 1971 **+** muscat's wurm poetry 1972 **+** the birth rug poetry 1973 **+** lud heat prose and poetry 1975 **+** suicide bridge prose and poetry 1979 **+** flesh eggs and scalp metal poetry 1983 **+** autistic poses poetry 1985 **+** flesh eggs and scalp metal: selected poems 1970-1987 poetry paladin 1987 **+** significant wreckage poetry 1988 **+** white chappell scarlet tracings fiction 1987 (originally a limited edition from goldmark but reprinted by paladin) **+** downriver novel 1991 **+** jack elam's other eye poetry 1991 **+** the shamanism of intent goldmark 1991 **+** radon daughters novel 1994 **+** conductors of chaos: a poetry anthology editor 1996 **+** penguin modern poets volume ten: douglas oliver denise riley iain sinclair poetry 1996 **+** the ebbing of the kraft poetry 1997 **+** lights out for the territory: 9 excursions in the secret history of london. granta books. 1997. . non-fiction **+** slow chocolate autopsy fiction 1997 **+** crash essay 1999 **+** liquid city non-fiction 1999 (w/ marc atkins) **+** rodinsky's room non-fiction 1999 (w/ rachel lichtenstein) **+** sorry meniscus essay profile books 1999 **+** landor's tower novel 2001 **+** london orbital non-fiction 2002 **+** white goods poems essays fictions 2002 **+** saddling the rabbit poetry 2002 etruscan books **+** the verbals - in conversation with kevin jackson worple press 2003 **+** dining on stones novel 2004 **+** edge of the orison: in the traces of john clare's 'journey out of essex' non-fiction 2005 **+** the firewall (selected poems 1979 - 2006) poetry etruscan books paperback 2006 **+** buried at sea worple press paperback 2006 **+** london: city of disappearances editor various essays about london psychogeography etc. 2006 **+** hackney that rose-red empire: a confidential report non-fiction 2009 **+** "sickening" in restless cities edited by m. beaumont and g. dart london: verso 2010. 257-276 **+** ghost milk non-fiction (memoir) 2011 **+** blake's london: the topographical sublime the swedenborg society 2012 **+** kitkitdizze... seeing gary snyder beat scene january 2013 **+** swimming to heaven: the lost rivers of london the swedenborg society 2013 **+** austerlitz and after: tracking sebald chapter deleted from 'american smoke' test centre 2013 **+** red eye poetry test centre 2013 **+** objects of obscure desire goldmark 2013 (illustrated by sarah simblet) **+** american smoke: journeys to the end of the light 2014 **+** cowboy / deleted file chapter deleted from 'american smoke' test centre 2014 **+** london overground: a day's walk around the ginger line 2015 **+** black apples of gower little toller books 2015 **+** westering test centre 2015 **+** liquid city expanded edition non-fiction reaktion books 2016 (w/ marc atkins) **+** seeschlange equipage 2016 **+** my favorite london devils: a gazetteer of encounters with local scribes elective shamen & unsponsored keepers of the sacred flame tangerine press 2016 **+** the last london: true fictions from an unreal city oneworld publications 2017 **+** living with buildings: walking with ghosts - on health and architecture wellcome 2018 **+** dark before dark tangerine press 2019 (photography by anonymous bosch) **+** fever hammer yellow - earthbound poetry series vol.1 no.7 earthbound press 2020 **+** our late familiars - goldmark 2020 (photography by ian wilkinson) **+** the gold machine - in the tracks of the mule dancers - oneworld publications 2021 **+** the gold machine beats: a jungle death photo album - beat scene 2021 **+** fever hammers. face press. 2021. -79-9 **+** fifty catacomb saints. tangerine press. 2022. -81-6. (w/ artwork by dave mckean postscript by chris mccabe) **+** the london adventures: house of flies. three imposters. 2023. -85-9 # filmography as well as writing and directing a number of documentary and semi-documentary films sinclair has appeared as himself in a number of films by other directors # discography **+** 1998 - downriver (uk king mob records cd) **+** 2004 - dead lead office - poems 1970-2004 (uk optic nerve cd) **+** 2012 - stone tape shuffle (uk test centre lp) **+** 2016 - edith field recordings with david aylward anonymous bosch andrew kötting jem finer claudia barton (uk badbloodandsibyl cd) **+** 2016 - london overground with standard planets (uk fin-a-dee six records 12" single) **+** 2021 - dark before dark with the london experimental ensemble (usa 577 records cd) // republic of bob