This interview took place at Mark Ford’s office at UCL, where he is a Professor in the English department. Impressively alphabetised bookshelves flanked us and offered a couple of opportunities for Mark to cross-reference quotations during our conversation. Mark was gearing up for the start of a new...

This interview took place at Ruth’s house in Kentish Town, in the kitchen looking out on her garden, the epitome of an urban idyll, though the evening wasn’t quite warm enough for us to sit out. Ruth was just back from New York, having spent a sabbatical there working on – characteristically – a num...