John Walsh

John Walsh was born in Wimbledon to Irish parents in 1953, grew up in south London and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford and University College, Dublin. In 1978 he joined Victor Gollancz, but left to pursue a career in journalism. In the 1980s, he worked for The Director business magazine and wrote freelance reviews and literary features for several magazines, especially Time Out and Books & Bookmen. In 1988, he became literary editor of the Evening Standard. From 1989 to 1993 he was literary editor and feature writer at The Sunday Times. In 1993, he joined the Independent as editor of the Magazine, and spent the next 20 years as assistant editor in a variety of roles: writing features, reviewing restaurants and interviewing famous names - everyone from Vaclav Havel to Dame Ninette de Valois, from Vanessa Redgrave to Ozzy Osbourne. From 1997 to 1999, he was editorial director of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature. From 1998 to 2015, John could be heard on the popular Radio 4 book-quiz show, The Write Stuff, alongside Sebastian Faulks and James Walton. John is married, has three grown-up children, and lives in London and West Sussex.