Richard Beard, writer, author, novelist, Sad Little Men, The Day That Went Missing, Acts of the Assassins, Becoming Drusilla, Manly Pursuits, UKRichard Beard, writer, author, novelist, Sad Little Men, The Day That Went Missing, Acts of the Assassins, Becoming Drusilla, Manly Pursuits, UKwriterRichardBeard

Richard Beard’s six novels include Lazarus is Dead, Dry Bones and Damascus, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In the UK he has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award and longlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. His novel Acts of the Assassins was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize, for books that ‘extend the possibilities of the novel form’. He is also the author of five works of narrative non-fiction, including his rugby memoir Muddied Oafs. The Day That Went Missing was shortlisted for the Folio Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and won the 2018 PEN Ackerley Award for literary autobiography.  In the US the book was a National Book Critics Circle finalist. His latest memoir/polemic is Sad Little Men, about private schools in Britain, which was a book of the year in the Times Literary Supplement and the Observer. His new project is the memoir platform The Universal Turing Machine.

UTM in Scotland

Everyone has memories. And according to the old saying, we all have a book in [...]

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UTM on the radio

Chine McDonald discovers The Universal Turing Machine on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day. [...]

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UTM Expansion Explained

Richard Beard, award-winning author of The Day That Went Missing and Sad Little Men, thought [...]

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How the UTM will grow

My version of the Universal Turing Machine is only the beginning. The idea is that [...]

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How To Read The Universal Turing Machine

Click here for a brief How-To preview. Then here to get started for yourself. So much [...]

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Universal Turing Machine in The Times

Full piece here and of course a live link to universalturingmachine.co.uk

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Interview with Georges Perec

Georges, Georges Perec, is that you? No. Come on, Georges, this is the first time [...]

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Universal Turing Machine Q & A

The first phase of the Universal Turing Machine is now available to read free online. [...]

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Universal Turing Machine in TLS

All the Right Moves While people in the world of books, as in so many [...]

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Universal Turing Machine

‘Utterly humane and utterly brilliant, outwitting computer technology by remaining one step ahead, always, in [...]

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Inspired Minds interview

In the latest episode of Rathbones Inspired Minds, Daniel Norcross speaks to author Richard Beard. [...]

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BBC Open Book – memoirs

Novelists Richard Beard and Bella Pollen discuss turning from fiction to non fiction by writing [...]

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BBC Open Book – how social media has helped deformat fiction

Richard Beard looks at the ways writers have played with visual media on the page. [...]

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BBC Open Book – the look of a book

Richard Beard explores how writers display things on the page that change how we read. [...]

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BBC Open Book – exploring the power of punctuation

Richard Beard explores how writers have used punctuation to diversify fiction. Click image to listen to [...]

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BBC Open Book – the second person ‘you’ in fiction writing

Richard Beard examines how writers address ‘you’, the reader, in fiction. Click image to listen to [...]

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BBC Open Book – why is most writing written in the third person?

Richard Beard explores how and why most fiction is written in the third person. Click [...]

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BBC Open Book – the ‘I’ viewpoint of the first person

Richard Beard guides us on the unexpected uses of the first person in fiction. Click [...]

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BBC Open Book – fictional journeys in the future tense

Richard Beard explains how time is used across fiction and the use of the future [...]

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BBC Open Book – the power of the present tense

Richard Beard explains how time is used across fiction and the use of the present [...]

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‘A likeable, literate and landmark tour-de-force.’
Frank Keating