Ghost-hosting Nicholas Reid

I haven't interviewed Nicholas Reid yet. For the time being, I'm circling around him. Not a vulture. More like a cat gauging the safety levels of the encounter. His columns in The (prestigious) Listener impress. His blog amuses. But who is he, really?

Writer, reviewer, poet, historian. A connoisseur of literature and wine. Somebody who can see the value of reading a Perry Mason novel sandwiched between Joyce and Akhmatova (as you can read in his delightful blog, THE USES OF WHITE BREAD AND WATER). Somebody whose views I can readily adopt (DO WE REALLY TEACH LITERATURE?). Somebody I'd like to get to know better as a colleague.

In a way, I feel a little like a student writing an essay on contemporary New Zealand writers. I've done the Google thing. Now it's time for the inter-personal thing. Watch this space for the interview.