Influences

• Noam Chomsky, David Buckingham, Charles Swann.

Favorite Books

• Oh boy: it started when I was 12 with Chandler`s "The Big Sleep", extended then to Shakespeare at school, and more fully at Keele University where I studied under Charles Swann (American Romance, Realism, 20th century). Also at Keele I covered English, European Drama & German literature, so a BA joint hons in American Studies and English.

  I later undertook a Diploma in Filmmaking at the London Film School - yoking screenwriting with hefty physical labor - there then followed the UK professional teaching qualification at Oxford in English and Drama. Soon thereafter I pulled this together and taught Anglo American Literature, Media Production, Critical Theory in the UK. Authors taught included: Tony Harrison, Arthur Miller, The Metaphysicals, Ray Carver, Toni Morrison, Shakespeare & Modern European Drama from Ibsen to Beckett.

  More recent teaching in Berlin has focused on US cinema, so am reading original filmscripts - Frank Nugent`s "The Searchers" and John Huston`s "The African Queen", for example.

  At the core of this was and is an on-going fascination with the operation of narrative in general, whether that be in fiction, non-fiction and/or life itself. So, engaging with others in seeking and expanding upon their own narrative strengths has become a professional mainstay.

  So the view is an extended one that embraces literary and film theory and pedagogy, and Chandler is still there in the background holding it all together.

  One recent spec project has been a collection of screenplays based on 6 American Short Stories from Hawthorne to Amy Tan.

  END

Favorite Authors

• Richard Ford
  E.M. Forster
  Hemingway
  Chekhov
  Shakespeare
  Webster
  Hawthorne
  Morrison (Toni)
  Crane
  Wharton
  Woolf
  Chandler

What I'm Reading

• Just finished `Julius Caeser`(Shakespeare), "The Road" (McCarthy), & Hemingway`s short gem "After the Storm".

  Always at my side:
  Richard Ford`s Collection of American Short Stories.

Web Links

• KINOWORDS: Courses, updates, etc
• Sample Course: Hollywood Snoops, 08-09
• Sample Course: American Yodas, 08
• Sample journalism: Redford and Cruise, Berlin 2007
• Sample Journalism. The CNN Hologram, Nov 4th 2008
• On line Review for EuropeFront: The Dark Knight, 2008
• And, yes, I`m on Twitter too...
• Published books from Peter Lang are here:
• John F. Kennedy Institute profile