Dr Joseph Thomas

Overview

‘One of our very best contemporary crime writers’ David Peace

Joe Thomas is the author of the critically acclaimed São Paulo Quartet – Paradise City, Gringa, Playboy and Brazilian Psycho – and Bent, his first London novel. Bent was a Guardian, Irish Times and CrimeTime book of the year, 2020, and a pick of the month in the Times, Mail on Sunday, and the Spectator.

Joe is currently working on a trilogy of novels set in London in the late 1970’s and 1980’s: White Riot, Red Menace, and True Blue. The trilogy is an alternative history of the London Borough of Hackney, where Joe was born, set during the rise and fall of Thatcher, covering politics, music, true crime, police corruption, institutional racism, and the power of counter-cultural protest. It begins at the Rock Against Racism concert in Hackney, 1978, and ends at the Poll Tax Riots of 1990. White Riot is published by Arcadia Books (Hachette) in January 2023.

Joe also contributes to Creative Digest, a regular Substack run and written by the Creative Writing team at City that offers insights into our teaching in the School of Communication and Creativity, as well as our reading and other interests. (Link at top right, do have a read!)

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