James Meek | The Guardian
- ️Mon Mar 20 2023
James Meek is a writer and journalist, the author of five novels, most recently The Heart Broke In, and two books of short stories, as well as Private Island, a collection of essays about privatisation. His novel The People's Act of Love won the Ondaatje Prize and was nominated for the Booker Prize. Meek was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year in 2004 in Britain's Press Awards for his reporting on Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. He worked for the Guardian from 1994 to 2006. He is a contributing editor to the London Review of Books
March 2023
Today in Focus
The accidental journalist who covered the war in IraqTwenty years on from the invasion of Iraq, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and James Meek describe their chance first meeting and their time reporting on the war together
February 2023
One year after the start of war, what lies ahead for Ukraine?
It’s a year since Vladimir Putin’s savage invasion began. The west has been Kyiv’s arsenal and banker but what role would it play in a conflict that could last generations?• Russia-Ukraine war: latest news updates
March 2022
The power of the new Ukraine
How the country has transformed from a Russian client state to a would-be EU nation where liberals and nationalists have found common cause
April 2020
Our new normal: why so many of us feel unprepared for lockdown life
In his former job as a war correspondent, novelist James Meek witnessed the thin line between everyday life and chaos - but no experience prepared him for our current emergency
September 2019
Rise up, rebel, revolt: how the English language betrays class and power
From Boris Johnson’s Latin to everyday Anglo-Saxon – what can the history of modern English tell us about our fractured society?
February 2019
How to see beyond Brexit
Only by examining the beliefs we unquestioningly hold can we move past current divisions. For remainers, it’s vital to keep ideals in mind and time to fight a bigger battle
December 2017
From the Guardian archive
Stalin's legacy lives on in city that slaves built – archive, 199429 December 1994 James Meek in Norilsk talks to a victim of the gulag 50 years ago whose Arctic exile is still not over
July 2016
'Inspiration in dark times': books to make sense of Brexit
From Paul Mason’s Postcapitalism to Beckett and Freud … authors, politicians and psychotherapists choose books to help you through the crisis
April 2015
'Who will protect, provide, shelter, build?' Why privatisation is the key to the election
For a century, left and right in Britain believed in universal access to education, health and housing. The Thatcher era changed everything. As the political parties battle it out, is there any alternative to the privatisation, breakup and foreign takeover of vital services?
August 2014
Sale of the century: the privatisation scam
Privatisation promised to turn the UK into an island of small shareholders. It failed: the faceless state bureaucrats have been replaced by faceless (better-paid) private bureaucrats – and big foreign corporations. How did we get to this point, asks James Meek
July 2014
Scottish writers on the referendum – independence day?
Should Scotland go it alone? As the referendum approaches, leading Scottish writers give their thoughts
April 2014
Most Ukrainians are neither loyal Russians nor fascists
James Meek
James Meek: In the propaganda war between Putin and the west, the complexities of Ukraine, and its people's interests, are ignored
December 2012
What's the best way to drink coffee? Writers on their caffeine habits
Eva Wiseman, Philip Hensher, Katie Puckrik and others on how they take their coffee and why the ritual of preparing and drinking is a part of the fabric of their lives
October 2012
G2 at 20
Long good reads: the best features from 20 years of G2
Twitter fiction: 21 authors try their hand at 140-character novels
August 2012
Rereading
James Meek: rereading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy'Tolstoy doesn't believe in "show, don't tell". He likes to show and tell'
February 2012
The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen – review
James Meek applauds a courageous book that delves into the Russian prime minister's shady past
April 2011
Privatised mail: a second-class delivery
The government wants to privatise the Royal Mail. But what would the new service look like? An examination of how the Dutch do it exposes unhappy customers and exploited workers
November 2010
Tolstoy's great estate
On the 100th anniversary of the great novelist's death, James Meek visits Yasnaya Polyana, where Tolstoy wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina
October 2010
Iraq: the war logs - one day, 146 deaths
24 hours of car bombs and mortars, of tortured corpses being found in every major city, of snipers, kidnaps and death squads
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