David Belbin
@davidbelbin.bsky.social
Nottingham novelist. Poetry reader. Music nerd. Movie lover. From October 25-March 26, I'm publishing 'Greeneland' a serial novel set 100 years ago, covering Graham Greene's 4 months in Nottingham davidbelbin.substack.com. A dog, a job, a woman & a church.
Good story about Jake's and BREDS in today's Gleaner. And respect to Rodigan. Everyone at Jake's was buzzing about this event when we were at Treasure Beach. Look forward to seeing him at Rum and Reggae in Colwick Park, Nottingham this June.
January 31, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Good story about Jake's and BREDS in today's Gleaner. And respect to Rodigan. Everyone at Jake's was buzzing about this event when we were at Treasure Beach. Look forward to seeing him at Rum and Reggae in Colwick Park, Nottingham this June.
Reading Geoff Dyer’s first novel, The Colour of Memory, from 1989. Dated in all sorts of interesting ways. Never more so than the 1st paragraph on page 258, on trying to track down a song. A real madeleine of details from my 20s this one. Specially if you substitute Brixton with Radford, Nottingham.
January 30, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Reading Geoff Dyer’s first novel, The Colour of Memory, from 1989. Dated in all sorts of interesting ways. Never more so than the 1st paragraph on page 258, on trying to track down a song. A real madeleine of details from my 20s this one. Specially if you substitute Brixton with Radford, Nottingham.
Three months ago today, Melissa hit Jamaica. The country is coming back strongly from the category five hurricane. However Black River, which I just visited, remains devastated and in desperate need. Heartbreaking. If you can afford to donate, please give to a fine local charity. bredsfoundation.org
January 28, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Three months ago today, Melissa hit Jamaica. The country is coming back strongly from the category five hurricane. However Black River, which I just visited, remains devastated and in desperate need. Heartbreaking. If you can afford to donate, please give to a fine local charity. bredsfoundation.org
Liverpool Empire, where I saw my first gig, the Meddle tour, on which they debuted Eclipse (later retitled Dark Side of the Moon) on February 13th, 1972 (tickets were a 14th birthday present). We moved in 1974 but I was also to see Focus, Jeff Beck, Leonard Cohen, The Faces, ELP & Cat Stevens there.
January 11, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Liverpool Empire, where I saw my first gig, the Meddle tour, on which they debuted Eclipse (later retitled Dark Side of the Moon) on February 13th, 1972 (tickets were a 14th birthday present). We moved in 1974 but I was also to see Focus, Jeff Beck, Leonard Cohen, The Faces, ELP & Cat Stevens there.
Siri, show me some good news*
* extended online version in alt text.
* extended online version in alt text.
January 10, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Siri, show me some good news*
* extended online version in alt text.
* extended online version in alt text.
New Prynne alert. Face Press. Edition of 100.
January 8, 2026 at 5:54 PM
New Prynne alert. Face Press. Edition of 100.
Below is a two page spread for A Girl of London, also from 1925, which is now considered lost, like so much early cinema.
January 8, 2026 at 12:13 PM
Below is a two page spread for A Girl of London, also from 1925, which is now considered lost, like so much early cinema.
Reread this every few years. When I wrote my UG dissertation about him, said it was his masterpiece. Now I would probably say 'No Other Life'(which came out after I did the thesis) is his finest work: a wonderful novel set in Haiti, better than 'The Comedians'. Read early drafts in Austin last year.
December 29, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reread this every few years. When I wrote my UG dissertation about him, said it was his masterpiece. Now I would probably say 'No Other Life'(which came out after I did the thesis) is his finest work: a wonderful novel set in Haiti, better than 'The Comedians'. Read early drafts in Austin last year.
A rather cool entry from Chris Rea, RIP, in the final edition of the Guinness Book of Hit Singles, which has long been my bible.
December 23, 2025 at 2:26 PM
A rather cool entry from Chris Rea, RIP, in the final edition of the Guinness Book of Hit Singles, which has long been my bible.
Went to a furniture restorer earlier and, while dropping off a damaged desk drawer, ran into this old friend, who was waiting to be repaired after flood damage. He's an original and insured for 16k evidently.
December 22, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Went to a furniture restorer earlier and, while dropping off a damaged desk drawer, ran into this old friend, who was waiting to be repaired after flood damage. He's an original and insured for 16k evidently.
Lovely hour at Bromley House Library. John Goodridge talked to Ian Collins about Blythe Spirit, his new biography of the great Ronald Blythe, who I was lucky enough to know via Stanley Middleton. Here he is having a sherry at Bromley House in 2006 when John and I organised them a joint book launch.
November 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Lovely hour at Bromley House Library. John Goodridge talked to Ian Collins about Blythe Spirit, his new biography of the great Ronald Blythe, who I was lucky enough to know via Stanley Middleton. Here he is having a sherry at Bromley House in 2006 when John and I organised them a joint book launch.
Very glad I was introduced to Jack Shepherd two years ago at Trevor Griffiths' funeral. I was able to tell him how much his performance in Trevor's series Bill Brand meant to me as an 18 year old. A fine, forceful actor and a lovely man with an incredibly strong body of work to remember him by. RIP.
November 26, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Very glad I was introduced to Jack Shepherd two years ago at Trevor Griffiths' funeral. I was able to tell him how much his performance in Trevor's series Bill Brand meant to me as an 18 year old. A fine, forceful actor and a lovely man with an incredibly strong body of work to remember him by. RIP.
Wrote a thing about Constraints in The Novel, with a side note on Ian McEwan, in relation to my serialised novel about Graham Greene in Nottingham 100 years ago, all of it free to read at davidbelbin.substack.com/p/bonus-post...
November 24, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Wrote a thing about Constraints in The Novel, with a side note on Ian McEwan, in relation to my serialised novel about Graham Greene in Nottingham 100 years ago, all of it free to read at davidbelbin.substack.com/p/bonus-post...
This is an excellent interview with Rickie Lee Jones. Long, great Van Morrison section. No argument that Veedon Fleece is his finest album btw but @andrewmale.bsky.social & Rickie Lee's confusion over its track order makes sense when you see the cover: it lists the songs in entirely the wrong order.
November 20, 2025 at 7:04 PM
This is an excellent interview with Rickie Lee Jones. Long, great Van Morrison section. No argument that Veedon Fleece is his finest album btw but @andrewmale.bsky.social & Rickie Lee's confusion over its track order makes sense when you see the cover: it lists the songs in entirely the wrong order.
Fascinating Neil Kinnock letter about Bob Worcester in today’s Guardian. Labour is misguidedly opposed to Electoral Reform but should know better. Under FPTP it lost the 1992 General Election by just 1,240 votes.
October 29, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Fascinating Neil Kinnock letter about Bob Worcester in today’s Guardian. Labour is misguidedly opposed to Electoral Reform but should know better. Under FPTP it lost the 1992 General Election by just 1,240 votes.
Public service announcement: the best ghost film so far this century, Alejandro Amenábar's sublime The Others, is on BBC4 & iPlayer next week. If you like ghost stories and haven't seen it before, I envy you.
October 23, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Public service announcement: the best ghost film so far this century, Alejandro Amenábar's sublime The Others, is on BBC4 & iPlayer next week. If you like ghost stories and haven't seen it before, I envy you.
Just seen a terrific production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf directed by Cara Nolan, at Curve studio in Leicester. Tremendous ensemble: colour blind casting. Cathy Tyson & Patrick Robinson never once making you think of Liz & Richard. Holds up as a classic. www.curveonline.co.uk/whats-on/sho...
October 22, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Just seen a terrific production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf directed by Cara Nolan, at Curve studio in Leicester. Tremendous ensemble: colour blind casting. Cathy Tyson & Patrick Robinson never once making you think of Liz & Richard. Holds up as a classic. www.curveonline.co.uk/whats-on/sho...
Trying to find a way to keep using Word without paying over 40% PA extra (increase due to AI, which I abhor, for obvious reasons). But the 'classic' compromise no longer seems to be available and the AI chatbot at Microshit will only offer me a £120 license that works on just one device. Any advice?
October 20, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Trying to find a way to keep using Word without paying over 40% PA extra (increase due to AI, which I abhor, for obvious reasons). But the 'classic' compromise no longer seems to be available and the AI chatbot at Microshit will only offer me a £120 license that works on just one device. Any advice?
'This is your brain on autocracy.' A poem from Tony Towle's new collection 'Late Sketches and Studies'. John Ashbery wrote, 'Tony Towle is one of the New York School's best-kept secrets'.
October 19, 2025 at 3:09 PM
'This is your brain on autocracy.' A poem from Tony Towle's new collection 'Late Sketches and Studies'. John Ashbery wrote, 'Tony Towle is one of the New York School's best-kept secrets'.
John Lucas, the least online person I knew (never used email, or any other aspect of the internet), managed to leave an online archive of over 60 pieces for London Grip, which is a valuable resource for the sort of writers published by small presses. Lovely article. londongrip.co.uk/2025/10/john...
October 18, 2025 at 3:17 PM
John Lucas, the least online person I knew (never used email, or any other aspect of the internet), managed to leave an online archive of over 60 pieces for London Grip, which is a valuable resource for the sort of writers published by small presses. Lovely article. londongrip.co.uk/2025/10/john...
Jalen Ngonda was all we hoped he’d be at Nottingham Rock City. Sweet soul with a brilliant falsetto, a cracking band and a warm, wonderfully diverse, adoring crowd. Go see.
October 17, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Jalen Ngonda was all we hoped he’d be at Nottingham Rock City. Sweet soul with a brilliant falsetto, a cracking band and a warm, wonderfully diverse, adoring crowd. Go see.
Charity shop jazz: a thing I haven't seen before. The owner has (I'm presuming) meticulously recorded each time he played the CD. Looks like he (and surely it's a 'he') got his money's worth.
October 15, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Charity shop jazz: a thing I haven't seen before. The owner has (I'm presuming) meticulously recorded each time he played the CD. Looks like he (and surely it's a 'he') got his money's worth.
The Holy, Beat, and Crazy Next Thing. A signed Jack Kerouac episode from On The Road, written in London, was found in the estate sale of a 40-year dead, murdered mafia boss. You couldn't make it up (and Kerouac didn't, he only changed the names). Here's page one. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
October 10, 2025 at 12:44 PM
The Holy, Beat, and Crazy Next Thing. A signed Jack Kerouac episode from On The Road, written in London, was found in the estate sale of a 40-year dead, murdered mafia boss. You couldn't make it up (and Kerouac didn't, he only changed the names). Here's page one. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Bloody hell but House of Dynamite is tremendous. In 1981, I used to show Dr Strangelove or Failsafe to public meetings for CND. Today, I’d show this 2 demonstrate how easily nuclear war could happen. On Netflix soon but really worth seeing on big screen. Props to Kathryn Bigelow for getting it made.
October 9, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Bloody hell but House of Dynamite is tremendous. In 1981, I used to show Dr Strangelove or Failsafe to public meetings for CND. Today, I’d show this 2 demonstrate how easily nuclear war could happen. On Netflix soon but really worth seeing on big screen. Props to Kathryn Bigelow for getting it made.