Friday, March 20, 2009
Mark Crick
Mark Crick is a writer, photographer and artist. He’s the acclaimed author of two unique works of literary pastiche; Kafka’s Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 17 Recipes and Sartre’s Sink: The Great Writers’ Complete Book of DIY – selected as the Sunday Times ‘Humour Book of the Year 2008’, who said: “It’s short, to the point, and when I read it out in the office, my colleagues laughed like drains (which then had to be cleared by Jean-Paul Sartre).”
During his younger years, Mark suffered from chronic asthma and much of his absence from education was thus spent reading acclaimed literary works, which, needless to say sparked off his love and admiration for the narratives of great writers. As his health improved throughout his teen years, his studies took him to Paris where he became greatly inspired by French writers Fournier, Camus, Colette and Cocteau. He then went on to study literature at the Universities of Warwick and London.
Aside from his love of literature, Mark has undertaken occupations in carpentry, teaching, and nursing, as well as working as a clerk. His writing ambitions were spurred on by a later career in freelance photojournalism where he helped produce features for the British press. He now lives in London, and his novels have been much applauded by the media, described as “stunning” by the Telegraph and “a miniature masterpiece” by the Daily Mail.
At this year’s festival, Mark will be cooking recipes in our Big Kitchen in a pastiche of literary styles – from Rich Chocolate Cake à la Irvine Welsh to Onion Tart à la Geoffrey Chaucer.
‘‘A merry little tome… a neat little pocket-sized pleasure”
Elizabeth Luard, the Oldie, in praise of Kafka’s Soup
“An amuse-bouche of a book”
New York Times
Links:
- The Sunday Times Review: Humour Book of The Year
- Independent’s Review of Kafka’s Soup
