Geoff Nicholson
Geoff Nicholson was born in Sheffield on 4 March 1953, the only child of Geoffrey and Violet.
He gained a degree in English from Cambridge and an MA in Modern European Drama from Essex. His first ambition was to be a playwright, and he had work presented at the London and Edinburgh Fringe. But prose was what drew him most, and this culminated in 27 witty, often surreal, sometimes dark, but always entertaining works of both fiction and non-fiction.
His debut, ‘Street Sleeper’, was short-listed for the Yorkshire Post First Work Award; ‘Bedlam Burning’ was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; and ‘Bleeding London’ was short-listed for the Whitbread Prize. His travelogue ‘Day Trips to the Desert’ was read on Radio 4 by Bill Nighy and his novel ‘What We Did on Our Holidays’ became the movie ‘Permanent Vacation’, starring David Carradine.
Alongside the books, Nicholson’s journalism appeared in The New York Times, Gastronomica, ArtReview, The Los Angeles Times, The Wire, Time Out, Daily Telegraph, Custom Car, Modern Painters and the Financial Times. He was prose editor at Ambit magazine, succeeding J.G. Ballard, and a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Numerous anthologies - most recently ‘The Book of Sheffield’, ‘Desire’ and ‘Reports From the Deep End’ - feature pieces by him, and he wrote regularly about food and walking in his Psychogourmet and Long Lost Walker Blogs.
In his own words: “I’m a walker who writes and a writer who walks; part urban explorer, part desert rat, part psychogeographer and flaneur. Wherever I am and wherever I go in the world I walk, I look around, I write about what I see and feel. It’s not the only thing I do with my life, but it’s probably the best part”.
Nicholson spent 20 years in Sheffield, 20 years in London, 20 years in New York and Los Angeles and a spell in Halifax. He was married twice, returning to the UK from LA in 2018 after divorcing his second wife.
He battled health issues in the months before his passing, but never lost his zest for life or his curiosity about the world and everything in it. He undertook a research field trip for his latest project five days before his death, and was corresponding with friends only hours before being admitted to hospital.
Geoff Nicholson died in Colchester on 18 January 2025, aged 71. He is survived by his partner Caroline Gannon.
He gained a degree in English from Cambridge and an MA in Modern European Drama from Essex. His first ambition was to be a playwright, and he had work presented at the London and Edinburgh Fringe. But prose was what drew him most, and this culminated in 27 witty, often surreal, sometimes dark, but always entertaining works of both fiction and non-fiction.
His debut, ‘Street Sleeper’, was short-listed for the Yorkshire Post First Work Award; ‘Bedlam Burning’ was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; and ‘Bleeding London’ was short-listed for the Whitbread Prize. His travelogue ‘Day Trips to the Desert’ was read on Radio 4 by Bill Nighy and his novel ‘What We Did on Our Holidays’ became the movie ‘Permanent Vacation’, starring David Carradine.
Alongside the books, Nicholson’s journalism appeared in The New York Times, Gastronomica, ArtReview, The Los Angeles Times, The Wire, Time Out, Daily Telegraph, Custom Car, Modern Painters and the Financial Times. He was prose editor at Ambit magazine, succeeding J.G. Ballard, and a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Numerous anthologies - most recently ‘The Book of Sheffield’, ‘Desire’ and ‘Reports From the Deep End’ - feature pieces by him, and he wrote regularly about food and walking in his Psychogourmet and Long Lost Walker Blogs.
In his own words: “I’m a walker who writes and a writer who walks; part urban explorer, part desert rat, part psychogeographer and flaneur. Wherever I am and wherever I go in the world I walk, I look around, I write about what I see and feel. It’s not the only thing I do with my life, but it’s probably the best part”.
Nicholson spent 20 years in Sheffield, 20 years in London, 20 years in New York and Los Angeles and a spell in Halifax. He was married twice, returning to the UK from LA in 2018 after divorcing his second wife.
He battled health issues in the months before his passing, but never lost his zest for life or his curiosity about the world and everything in it. He undertook a research field trip for his latest project five days before his death, and was corresponding with friends only hours before being admitted to hospital.
Geoff Nicholson died in Colchester on 18 January 2025, aged 71. He is survived by his partner Caroline Gannon.
No organizations, partners, or collaborations to show.
No conferences to show.
No flairs to show.