One minute interview with Peter Pomerantsev
Where are you now and what can you see?
Alone in the office. It's raining. I can hear drunk people outside.
What are you currently reading?
Ben Judah's amazing 'This is London' (I have a review copy: it’s out next year). It’s the Down and Out in Paris and London for our times. The first portrait of the new, immigrant city. It will be a hit.
Choose a favourite author and say why you admire her/him
My dad. He's a Russian language Ukrainian Austro-Hungarian poet-essayist and the reason I write. Luckily for me he writes in another language so I don’t have the usual anxiety of influence problems one gets with talented parents.
I can just pinch his ideas. Sometimes journalists get us confused.
One hack interviewed him recently in Paris expecting some insights about Russian information war- but my dad just talked about wine (the subject of his work).
He did swing it round to say Ukraine's development can be analysed as a tension between Wine and Vodka drinking traditions and habits.
Describe the room where you usually write
I get the most done on planes. No internet to distract.
I’ve just been offered a ridiculous tri-transfer journey to a festival in Norway and will accept because I know I will finally get some work done. Sadly you can now get internet on some flights. Terrible news.
The 20 best audiobooks
Show all 20Which fictional character most resembles you?
‘Fabian’ by Erich Kastner, the story of a procrastinator who finally does something and instantly dies.
Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?
I like football players who miss vital penalties. Batty; Waddle; Southgate...
Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: Adventures in Modern Russia, by Peter Pomerantsev, is published by Faber & Faber (£8.99)
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