Minds, Machines and Magic

Is human creativity no more than mechanics?

Life Story

Making sense of the self

Story Time

Is objective news an illusion?

The Art of Life

Are biographies fiction?

Philosophy in the Bedroom

Exploring pain and pleasure

The Art of Imagination

Is art the ultimate arbiter of truth?

The Key to Creativity

Do restrictions breed inventiveness?

Imagining Reality

Can we create fantasy worlds?

Authenticity, Reality and Being

What is it to be real?

At the World's Edge

Fantasy, fiction, and desire

The Doubleness of Oscar Wilde

What's behind the gentlemanly facade?

The King's Will

Mystery and death in the House of Tudor

Strange New Worlds

A new vision of reality

A Spider in the Eye

Authenticity is a Con

The problem with 'truthful' politics

Canon Under Fire

Mirror, Mirror

Can plastic surgery make you more authentic?

Conditions for Creativity

Does censorship create great art?

Myths for Modernity

Fictions and fantasies in an age of reason

The Old Gods: England's Mythic Past

How to Rediscover Your Creativity

Why blue sky thinking is essential

Dark Satanic Mills

Do our landscapes determine our selves?

Taking Humour Seriously

Is humour an essential form of subversion?

Imagining the Truth

Can fantasy reveal reality?

Killer Stories

Why do we fall for narratives?

The Arc of Life: Michael Morpurgo

How reading cultivates empathy

In the Moment

The Fantasy of Technology

Is technology the driver of progress?

The Great Escape

Is fantasy fiction a dangerous crutch?

Visions of Apocalypse

Is the end always nigh?

A Field Guide to Reality

Overcoming the tyranny of realism in literature

Death of the Hero

Icons for a new era

Verses for Eternity

The Mirror to Nature

The wonder of the wild vs. our imagination

Writing the End Times

Tales of an Extravagant Stranger

Austen vs Woolf

The female fantasy

Poetry and the Transmission of Errors

The poetical errors that matter

Uncharted Territory

Lust, Love and the Late Madame Picasso

Seduction, suicide and a courtcase. Godfrey Barker sheds light on Picasso’s final years.

Irony, Truth and Reality

Confronting the limits of sincerity

Our Hopeless Future & Other Comedy

Shooting Truth

The Mara Crossing

Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On

Does Shakespeare’s mystery and magic resonate in a rational age?

Rhyme and Punishment

Art for prisons

Dangerous Virtues

When enticing stories sell shady truths

Order out of Chaos

Deconstructing the art of storytelling

How to keep your audience hooked

How to write and why we should

A guide to the creative process