Xan Brooks

Xan Brooks is a British author, editor and broadcaster known for historical fiction and social commentary. His writing often delves into the darker aspects of society, reflected in his remarkable debut novel, The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times (2017), and his most recent work, The Catchers (2024).

Brooks began his career in the early 1990s as one of the founding editors of The Big Issue, a British magazine that focused on tackling homelessness through social investment. He later joined The Guardian, where he worked as a film editor and later as an associate editor, specialising in film. In 2015, Brooks moved into freelance writing, which has given him the time to focus on his fiction writing.

His debut novel, The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times (2017), was inspired by a family story and focuses on a young girl named Lucy Marsh living in post-World War I Britain. Featuring grotesque and disfigured war veterans known as 'funny men', the novel explores trauma, exploitation, and lost innocence. Brooks commented, "It's fiction, but every story has a kernel of truth," about the blend of historical reality and mythological overtones.

Brooks's second novel, The Catchers (2024), is set in the spring of 1927 and deals with the birth of popular music in the American South. The story follows John Coughlin, a song catcher from New York, as he travels through Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta in search of musicians.

The story, steeped in the racial and economic divisions of the time, highlights the complexities of cultural exploitation and the blurred lines between saviour and oppressor. Reflecting on the challenges of writing The Catchers, Brooks says on Twitter: "It's the hardest thing I've ever written, a nightmare of a novel to get right.

Xan Brooks has continued to work as a journalist, frequently writing film reviews and cultural commentary.

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