Benjamin Myers @BenMyers1 Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

4 months

Get your dancing shoes on, babes.

Bookshop.org

@bookshop_org_UK

4 months

🥁 NEW @BenMyers1 incoming! Rare Singles celebrates the power of music and friendship, and it's hitting the shelves this August. Pre-order here and support independent bookshops!

2

3

18

8

14

88

Last Seen Profiles

@st1awb

@WahyuniSri80858

@starstodreams

@Seshe366909

@lanegrura40

@IvandavidCanal1

@he4rtbaby

@AndrePorter2024

@Alanin_8

@YanHarahap

@bwsd7707

@WavyBunny

@TaylorJana_

@aparnapkin

@bmglass12

@aysevemuratx

@andrewdbreck

@HartsHyacin

@alwazeer_ali3

@A9ZOSHfV9vyJ0qs

@Christina341572

@bondi_liveok

@pup_baekkie

@ccbaemon

@Coach_Wetz

@bokeplokalmalam

@bilalat35016763

@_m3ganfoxx

@alphagrey96

@Sulimanaltamim3

@bunny_haruno

@viveslucy

@ccg224eth

@IngeStolkenburg

@V5b5gB

@_Toorauz

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

6 months

This still makes me laugh.

29

520

7K

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

7 months

Remember when the UK used to have swimming pools? Since 2010 the Conservatives have closed 1086. We now have 1233, which means there is one public swimming pool per 44,606 people. Criminal, really.

169

817

5K

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

18 days

Every time I see @Rylan on TV, or being interviewed, he displays flashes of emotional intelligence and insight that aren't always evident in mainstream culture. What can I say, I like the fella.

150

32

3K

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

3 months

Please stop saying "gotten". I beg you. You're not a Texan rodeo rider or a short order cook at Greasy Pete's Waffle House just off Route 66. You live in Chalfont St Giles and play badminton.

185

213

2K

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

5 months

Serious question: How the hell did someone as blatantly thick as Liz Truss get into Oxford?

166

49

1K

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

9 months

Huge if true.

The Goldsmiths Prize

@GoldsmithsPrize

9 months

We are delighted to announce that the winner of the #GoldsmithsPrize2023 is 'Cuddy' by Benjamin Myers! Congratulations @BenMyers1 ! 🏆🎉🍾

24

80

326

98

25

937

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

Tonight's the night. The Gallows Pole, BBC2, 9pm (then all episodes available on iplayer). I'm dedicating this to Ian Stripe (1947-2023), who passed away yesterday and never got to see it. Pic: Shane and me plotting back in February 2020. #TheGallowsPole

35

98

678

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

The verdicts are in and reactions to The Gallows Pole are split down the middle: "It's a load of shit, who are these foul-mouthed oiks?" "It's brilliant, it's not like anything else." And that's Britain in 2023 for you, babes.

129

39

660

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

9 months

A mad night. I only went and won the coveted @GoldsmithsPrize for Cuddy. Thanks to them, the @newstatesman and all the excellent shortlisted writers. Do investigate their work. Further reading: Pic by @adellestripe

40

27

552

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

Just had someone call the cops on me for swimming outdoors, as if England wasn't intolerable enough already. I stayed in the water, told them I wasn't doing anything wrong. They looked embarrassed then left. I carried on swimming.

47

15

550

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

10 months

Last night back on my home turf. 500 sold out venue, 100 yards from where I failed all my A-levels. Full of family & friends. My best mate's band backing Toby Jones. I was nervous as hell and hid at the back. 200 people at the signing after. It bent my head - in a good way.

23

13

501

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

11 months

I've written a new novel. I had the idea for it in August 2009 but it has taken until now to finish it. It's nothing like the last one. Or the next one. Who wants to keep reading the same thing again anyway? It's being published in 2024.

20

11

491

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

31.05.23

Shane Meadows's new drama The Gallows Pole confirms air date on BBC

The new series is coming to BBC Two and iPlayer very soon.

www.radiotimes.com

22

61

490

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

10 months

This is wasted on Twitter.

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

10 months

I ordered a copy of 'Waiting For Godot' ages ago but it still hasn't turned up.

11

8

95

27

32

478

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

9 months

I've submitted the final edits for my next novel (it'll be published in summer 2024) AND filed my tax returns. So I've come out for a light Yorkshire salad to celebrate.

30

9

459

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

10 months

My novel CUDDY has been shortlisted for this year's @GoldsmithsPrize . And amongst such fantastic company too. It's out now in hardback and published in paperback in Feb 2024. Thanks to @BloomsburyBooks and everyone who has read or reviewed it so far.

35

31

447

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

I've just seen an email inviting Nick Drake - yes, THE Nick Drake - onto a Nike podcast to discuss "music, dance, entertainment, nature, struggles of life etc."

34

44

437

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

I'm sick of this lot flapping their mouths so I've written to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards about Lee Anderson. You can contact them here:

17

90

442

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

9 months

So, 2023 then: Published & promoted a novel Got Covid (the same week) Had a TV series on the BBC Had a bereavement (the same day) Did a house clearance Finished a novel (out 2024) Got Covid (again) Broke my typing finger Won the Goldsmith's Prize Got shingles. SHINGLES.

50

3

399

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

2 months

I just tracked down one of my old English teachers after 36 years to say thanks for inspiring me when faced with a classroom of restless, yawning 12 year old's from the Durham suburbs and pit villages. It only took a minute and hopefully has made both our days better.

27

18

390

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

10 months

Rishi Sunak's "men are men, women are women, and we shouldn't be bullied etc" speech yesterday just showed him to be an utter bastard. If you have to demonise trans people, then you're the bully mate. Honestly. Let people be. It's not difficult.

12

32

384

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

4 months

Some very nice news to end an insane & challenging week: CUDDY has won the Winston Graham Historical Fiction Prize, awarded to novels "centred on a strong sense of place". Thanks to the judges, fellow shortlisted authors and everyone in Cornwall involved in the WG organisation.

32

30

386

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

8 months

I'm looking forward to publishing my new novel RARE SINGLES. It's about friendship, grief, music, opioid addiction, trauma, dancing, whisky, seaside towns, brilliant wives, useless husbands & knickerbocker glories. It's out August 1st 2024. .

27

26

381

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

The Gallows Pole review – Shane Meadows’s period drama is an absolute must-see

The director of This is England’s take on a novel about an 18th-century counterfeiting gang is funny, moving, shocking and totally compelling. He has effortlessly reinvented a whole genre

www.theguardian.com

23

25

348

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

5 months

Pilgrimage to the flat where Patrick Hamilton died (and Ralph Vaughan Williams lived). Hamilton wrote several classic novels, my fave being Slaves Of Solitude, but also Rope (filmed by Hitchcock) and Gaslight (which spawned the modern usage of the phrase gaslighting). Read him!

30

19

346

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

3 months

I'm breaking from (former) music journalist ranks to express the controversial opinion that every single Britpop band had at least one great song. (And that in 1995 it was possible to like Supergrass, Shy FX, Slint & System 7 at the same time. Don't believe the revisionists).

41

4

345

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

5 months

Cuddy has been longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize 2024.

Books by Zadie Smith and Tan Twan Eng longlisted for the £25k Walter Scott Prize for Historical...

Zadie Smith’s The Fraud (Hamish Hamilton), Benjamin Myers’ Cuddy (Bloomsbury) and Tan Twan Eng’s The House of Doors (Canongate) are among the books longlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize for...

www.thebookseller.com

18

14

329

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

10 months

I've finished writing my next novel. The first word in it is "the". The last word is "heart." Between the two lies 67,820 words, not all of them different. I started writing it on 18/08/21. It'll be published by @BloomsburyBooks in 2024.

9

8

328

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

3 months

Good lord.

Isabella Hammad and Benjamin Myers shortlisted for £10k Ondaatje Prize

Isabella Hammad and Benjamin Myers are among the six-strong shortlist for the 2024 RSL Ondaatje Prize worth £10,000.

www.thebookseller.com

27

9

315

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

Hi friends. News: I've submitted my next novel. It'll be published by Bloomsbury in 2024. It has a two word title. Special prize for anyone who can guess what it is. I'm the meantime I'm sitting in a nettle patch to celebrate.

95

6

311

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

9 months

Having a hot egg in St Pancras to celebrate.

The Goldsmiths Prize

@GoldsmithsPrize

9 months

The winner of the #GoldsmithsPrize2023 ! Congratulations @BenMyers1

3

14

121

40

7

313

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

10 months

Just two short normal guys bringing CUDDY back to life.

6

5

297

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

Went to the best ever funeral this week. Sunshine and laughter. Scones. The Kinks. No Goddy chat, just a humanist celebrant and blackbird singing in the dead of night. Negronis. A summer haze settling over the motorway. A solitary deer sniffing the air. England, out there. Life.

8

4

291

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

7 months

Merry Christmas to readers, booksellers, reviewers and book fiends everywhere, from beneath the cruel lighting of the public bogs. I've a new novel out in summer 2024 (and a film being made!). Thanks for all the support - Your friend in the North.

20

4

283

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

It's the final episode of The Gallows Pole tonight. BBC2 at 9pm, and all on the iplayer. Thanks to everyone who made this happen, from @Ofmooseandmen and @ElementPictures to Shane Meadows & @NickieSault . It has been a blast. Life-changing, really. #thegallowspole

30

18

283

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

3 months

Ask a northerner how they feel that "levelling up" is going.

Gritty is the Way

@Gritty20202

3 months

"What radicalized you?" this girl:

814

10K

70K

13

52

283

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

6 months

Hello book fiends. I've got a signed paperback of CUDDY (published last week) here that's seeking a home. Simply re-tweet this to be in with a chance of winning it.

21

450

258

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

Favourite The Gallows Pole review headlines (so far): 'Loachy Blinders' 'Hebden Bridge Over Troubled Water' 'This Was England' 'Carry On Coining' 'Reservoir Clogs' 'Hebden's Gate' 'King Of New York(shire)' My(tholmroyd) Own Private Idaho'* ( *This one might be mine.)

27

18

273

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

9 months

There are close to 200,000 books published in the UK per year, so it's pleasing to see Cuddy has been chosen as one of the Best Books of 2023 by @Waterstones . (And The Perfect Golden Circle as one of their paperbacks too). Onwards...

8

18

261

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

"Filmed in a 400-year-old building which was a museum, until the council closed it. However, the production company helped to restore its interior...and a drama about a local legend has helped save a museum and given a new lease of life to the community."

The Gallows Pole: a hunger for freedom

Shane Meadows's new drama captures the defiance and spirit of the 18th-century working class.

www.spiked-online.com

3

40

258

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

4 months

6 or 7 years ago I got some funding from Arts Council Funding to research the life of St Cuthbert and today CUDDY - my novel about him - has been longlisted for the 2024 Ondaatje Prize. Hurrah for @ace_national and thank you @RSLiterature .

13

23

254

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

Writing and getting published entails years of struggle, rejection, doubt and penury, so I still can't believe that this happened last night.

18

7

245

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

Tonight I was inducted by Bernadine Evaristo as a Fellow of the @RSLiterature . I got to sign the hallowed book with Charles Dickens' quill and hang out with my ace editor @AllegraLeFanu & writer pals @wednesdayerskin and @jenni_fagan . Then jerk chicken in the park to celebrate.

28

5

244

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

6 months

Awoken to the news that dear pal Neil Kulkarni ( @KaptainKulk ) has died. Neil was super-smart, massively supportive, a fantastic writer and, more than anything, funny as hell. He told the 21 year old me that writing's the best job in the world. I still think about that most days.

9

11

237

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

8 months

A nice end to a mad/eventful year: CUDDY has been longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize. (The paperback of CUDDY has been brought forward to February 1st 2024 and is available to pre-order now.)

Longlist announced for Gordon Burn Prize 2023-24 - New Writing North

The twelve-strong longlist for the Gordon Burn Prize 2023-24 has been revealed today (Thursday 7 December), recognising fiction and non-fiction books that are fearless...

newwritingnorth.com

15

13

241

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

3 months

A depressingly timeless character - and a performance once seen, never forgotten RIP Bernard Hill.

5

22

241

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

7 months

Cuddy is out in paperback on Feb 1st 2024. It won the @GoldsmithsPrize . Christ, I'm insufferable. But what are you gonna do? I'm not going back to labouring on a building site*, selling ad space** or watches door to door***. (* 3 days, 1995) (** 2 days, 96) (*** 1/2 day, 96)

10

14

221

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

5 months

No filter, pure drama.

8

3

208

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

18 days

August 2009 was the date I came up with the idea for what would become RARE SINGLES. And nearly 15 years later, here it is.

5

7

210

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

It's class war. #thegallowspole

7

19

206

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

I've been getting some nice feedback for CUDDY this week. It took 5 years to write. One of those projects that you finally hold in your hand and think: 'Where the hell did that come from?' And you know you can never pull it off again.

Cuddy by Benjamin Myers review – a visionary history

An Anglo-Saxon saint speaks down the centuries in a sensational piece of storytelling about Britain’s past and present

www.theguardian.com

19

9

202

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

5 months

New novel incoming... Presenting: RARE SINGLES Published August 1st 2024 by @BloomsburyBooks Cover art by @GregHeini Pre-order now:

12

17

203

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

3 months

It's giving strong Citizen Smith cosplay/knock-off Camden market Che Guevara T-shirt vibes. But after 14 years of Tory shithousery, needs must.

10

5

200

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

3 months

RIP Steve Albini. I bought this and 'Headache' by Big Black when I was 14 - both game-changing, head-bending, really ugly records to listen to at that age.

14

6

193

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

8 months

I thought this, by @PhelpsieSarah , was the best true crime drama in years because it was all about empathy for the victims. It was so mannered, restrained and English, and showed the villain to be the banal coward he was.

The 50 best TV shows of 2023: No 9 – The Sixth Commandment

This flawless drama sees Timothy Spall put in the best performance of his career. It is a masterclass in respectful true-crime TV that rewrites the rules of the entire genre

www.theguardian.com

17

6

194

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

5 months

Happy St Cuthbert's Day to all who celebrate. Personally, I'm not religious or a believer but I am into people, stories, history, place and, in a broader sense, the concept of "faith". I believe all can co-exist.

11

13

192

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

8 months

I love winter.

5

6

186

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

7 months

Proofs! I suspect there's a perception that I "knock them out", but I really don't. This one's been percolating since 2009 RARE SINGLES published in August 2024 by @BloomsburyBooks .

12

11

183

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

4 months

Liz Truss tanked the economy and just went into the book charts at #7 . I failed A-level economics but my latest book went in at #11 or something. WHERE'S THE JUSTICE?? #lettuce #porkmarkets #psychohosebeast

24

1

183

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

'James Broadbent', 'David Hartley', your humble narrator, the lady who made it all happen. At the cast and crew screening of The Gallows Pole in Leeds. #thegallowspole

9

176

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

6 months

5 years ago I was in Durham, studying the new masonry on the cathedral, and then heading off to Lindisfarne, wondering how the hell I was going to tell the story of a saint who died 1300 years earlier (and furthermore: why?) And tomorrow that story is out in paperback...

15

10

172

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

Being a working writer is a constant battle to keep your work alive & in print, and yourself solvent. It's not ideal for the insecure or the anxious, which all writers are, and involves years of solitary repetition punctuated by moments of joy. A rum life. I wouldn't change it.

8

6

168

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

7 months

I'm in England's best city (Liverpool).

17

2

161

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

4 months

Burger King at Birtley services, Co. Durham. I helped build it during my three (3) days as a labourer back in the hazy, crazy, not-that-lazy summer of 1995. The lads called me 'Poet' - and not in a complimentary way. It was also a time that influenced Book IV of my novel Cuddy.

11

1

160

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

I think Britain should stop messing about and rejoin the EU.

7

5

160

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

4 months

I seem to have stumbled across some sort of hidden kingdom.

4

159

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

2 months

One year ago. Still available:

19

7

158

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

10 months

First thing this morning I wandered out into the field where I first had the idea (in June 2019) to write THE PERFECT GOLDEN CIRCLE. Then this afternoon I have learned that it is one of @waterstones ' Paperbacks Of The Year. Seems like...synchronicity?

13

6

157

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

For those of you born in the mid/late '70s: have a Proustian rush on me.

katesbush

@katesbush

1 year

Off to France tomorrow

14

0

77

23

10

158

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

10 months

Come and see Toby Jones & Samantha Neale perform a reading from Cuddy in the city where it's set. Also livestreaming. Musical accompaniment by The Shining Levels ( @MrJKetch ). Book / merch signing afterwards. Produced by @JackMcNamara81 of @LiveTheatre .

5

36

155

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

9 months

I'm about to embark on what is already shaping up to be the greatest book ever written.

15

3

153

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

One damp evening you wander into an amusement arcade in an off-season northern seaside town, and 6 years later you find you've written a new novel. It'll be published in 2024.

8

3

153

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

8 months

The Gallows Pole is no. 32 in The Guardian's best TV shows of 2023.

The 50 best TV shows of 2023

With fabulous finales for Top Boy, Happy Valley and Barry – oh and that show about a media dynasty you may have heard of – the year provided 50 more reasons it’s a golden age for telly

www.theguardian.com

7

10

153

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

Episode 2 tonight. It features a lovely looking bit of pie and some right good music. #thegallowspole

BBC Two - The Gallows Pole, Series 1, Thy Had a Dream

David introduces his kin to coin clipping, a means to fight his community’s destitution.

www.bbc.co.uk

15

13

154

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

The Gallows Pole on BBC Two review: a new kind of period drama

This Is England’s Shane Meadows reimagines one of Yorkshire’s most gripping tales

www.standard.co.uk

10

20

150

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

8 months

You're sitting in Durham Cathedral in Jan 2018 & a thought strikes: Could I write something? Have I got the energy? And who cares? Then - flash! - it's Dec 2023: where did that come from? Is this all a form of mental illness? Strangest life I've known.

The best fiction of 2023

From Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting to Zadie Smith’s The Fraud, and a companion to Nineteen Eighty-Four – this year’s fiction highlights

www.theguardian.com

3

6

150

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

4 months

The Oxbridge boats race down a frothing river of effluence, the leaders of tomorrow puking from the bacteria, is surely the final, closing scene of the British Empire. Lower curtains. - fin -

6

15

148

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

7 months

Just to clarify: after rigorous research Liverpool is indeed England's best city (followed by Newcastle and London), despite hard lobbying from some Mancunians.

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

7 months

I'm in England's best city (Liverpool).

17

2

161

30

8

149

Benjamin Myers

@BenMyers1

1 year

A MASS OCCULT RITUAL IS TAKING PLACE. AT MIDDAY OLD ALBION WILL CAPSIZE AND DEMONS SHALL BE RAISED.

10

12

145