Iain Sinclair

This a really special one for me in a way that feels very personal and almost private in the way that being a reader can be at times. Iain Sinclair’s work has quite a specific appeal and spoke to me during my first period of living in London (2010-13) which was also a very formative part of my life. Towards the end of my first year, I was given a copy of Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire for my birthday (thanks Paddy). As it happened, I was also living in Hackney Wick, which was beginning to undergo its transitional process ahead of the Olympics in 2012. When I first moved there, the Overground train didn’t stop at HW on Sunday’s. At the edge of the city, I was catching the tail end of an East London that has since been displaced and replaced. I was also walking tons, particularly around Hackney itself, so I was very familiar with the nooks and corners referenced in the book, and discovered lots of new places and faces as I went along. Since then, I’ve inhaled much of Iain’s work and feel all the better for it. I’m drawn to his curiosity in people and their stories, his embrace of happenstance, randomness and willingness for adventures. I’m not so interested in the notion of ‘psychogeography’ in someone else’s hands. Much of what Iain was railing against back then has came to pass and as The Last London - his ‘final book’ on the topic - was published in 2017, I’ve been interested to find out what he makes of the city in its current iteration and what it might tell us we can expect in places like Glasgow and elsewhere in the future too. It was a true honour to visit him at the same home he has started his many walks from - and even more of an honour to accompany him on a walk around Hackney itself as he shared a classic Sinclair tale that unfurls over time, prompting new connections and revelations. I will share that recording separately for the true heads. Get full access to Connections with Andrew Thomson at c0nnections.substack.com/subscribe