As part of Strange Birds' series of online writers' talks, Emil Čolić and I will be talking with Jarred McGinnis about his debut novel, 'The Coward', published by Canongate in July 2021. Book a place here.

Jarred is the co-founder of The Special Relationship, which was chosen for the British Council’s International Literature Showcase. He was the creative director for ‘Moby-Dick Unabridged‘, a four-day immersive multimedia reading of Herman Melville’s ‘Moby-Dick’ at the Southbank Centre, involving hundreds of participants.

His short fiction has been commissioned for BBC Radio 4 and appeared in respected journals in the UK, Canada, USA and Ireland. He is or has been an Associate Writer for Spread the Word, a mentor for the Word Factory, a fellow of the London Library’s T S Eliot Emerging Writer Programme and a Writer-in-Residence for First Story. He also has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, but mostly he inspires the able-bodied by using public transport and taking his daughters to the playground.

More information about the event will be avialable shortly. In the meantime, you can read the first chapter of The Coward here, and pre-order the book here.

Praise for 'The Coward':

This beautiful book is a testament to the way people can, in spite of everything, reforge shattered emotional bonds and repair seemingly doomed relationships. You won’t find a more uplifting read in these dark times. IRVINE WELSH

The Coward is laceratingly funny, beautiful and true, true, true – right into its very human and very twisted heart. Read this book. A. L. KENNEDY

The Coward is both absolutely devastating and ridiculously funny, sometimes within the span of a single paragraph. A big-hearted, quick-witted sucker punch of a first novel; readers who like their brutal honesty with a side of hope are really going to love The Coward.’ JAN CARSON