Peter Ormerod
Author of David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God, out on January 15 2026 and published by Bloomsbury. Also entertainments editor for NationalWorld. Also a bit too keen on porridge, toast, Swindon, Noel Edmonds etc
- When he's not helping to run New York, @maggiore6.bsky.social runs a superb Bowie site, full of interviews and his own fascinating insights. He kindly invited me to discuss Dave, God, the Bowie/Jones dichotomy and loads more maggioreonbowie.com/peter-ormero...
- He's such a lovely person to talk with - he has an insider's knowledge with an outsider's curiosity
- This series is such a treat and it's only just got going so sign up now. (Numerology - which Bowie wrote as 'numberology' - was quite a thing for him at the time and seems to have been part of his prayer ritual, along with tarot and Dion Fortune's book Psychic Self-Defence)
- Thin White Duke 50: Bowie in San Francisco. Quaaludes, numerology, a "hastily-assembled" 'Diamond Dogs' tour debut: www.patreon.com/posts/isolar...
- This sticker was used on the tour - it looks like that word is Isolar, spelt in a version of Bowie's own 'Isolaric Alphabeth' - and it doesn't half make me think of a similar design used 40 years later, again with its own alphabet(h)
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- You're very welcome - hope you enjoy it!
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- That's all very kind and lovely to hear; thanks Seán
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- We were created to eat it. I've always been obsessed with it and am made mostly of it. Only discovered steel cut oats relatively recently though - they take commitment but they're next-level stuff
- Quite a nice thing to see in the Amazon charts. Feels a bit weird to be ahead of Paul McCartney and the Dalai Lama but there you go Thanks, everyone
- It's an honour to have my book reviewed by the great Simon Critchley in today's @theguardian.com And as for the review itself, it's beyond anything I could have dreamt of www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
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- Ha! The more the merrier
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- Ah, thanks - hope you enjoy it!
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- I mean, blimey
- Really nice and satisfyingly chunky review of my book in the London Standard 'What Ormerod provides here is a welcome addition to the heaving Bowie library' www.standard.co.uk/culture/book...
- When I was writing my book, all I really wanted was to see in my local Waterstones one day. And now - there it is, between Matthew McConaughey and Paul McCartney! There's been plenty else going in the book's first week out in the world. Here are some particularly lovely things:
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- And that's a lovely comment to read - thanks
- And being a local newspaper journalist at heart, it's been a joy to appear in the Banbury Guardian, the Derbyshire Times and of course the Leamington Spa Courier (it's taken me 26 years but at last I've done something vaguely worthy of its pages) www.warwickshireworld.com/arts-and-cul...
- I've sadly had to postpone some events this week but I'm really looking forward to getting out and speaking with people about the book in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks to everyone who's given support or encouragement in any way - it means a lot and makes a difference
- Some more nice reviews have been popping up - I'm especially pleased with this one from young people's publication Voice, which is a proper force for good www.voicemag.uk/review/16077...
- I've also listened to the audiobook for the first time, and I couldn't be happier with our choice of reader, Chris Bianchi. There are so many generic voices out there, but Chris is something different, and reads with such thoughtfulness and soul. More about him here: ett.org.uk/artists/chri...
- I've written a piece about the book for Barnes & Noble (the colossal American bookshop chain, not former West Ham footballers Bobby Barnes and Mark Noble) www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/peter-o...
- Closer to home - very close to home, in fact - there's been this interview with the wonderful Leamingtonian @andymort.com for his Gentle Rebel podcast www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7js...
- Some pleasing stuff happening in the States, with an excerpt of the book in the esteemed Literary Hub (@literaryhub.bsky.social) lithub.com/the-church-o...
- And another excerpt keeping rather intimidatingly intellectual company in the Pittsburgh Review of Books (@pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social) pghrev.com/david-bowie-...
- My mother, a simply extraordinary woman named Priscilla, died on Wednesday night. She had a rare and priceless gift of being able to see beauty in anything, while being ferociously discerning. A fierce wit, an enchanted disposition, wild, magical, deeply and unsentimentally loving
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- Thank you, Amber x
- She barely sold a painting in her life, but she could be brilliant. Here are a couple of my favourites (the one on the left is Trafalgar Square on the day of the 1981 Royal Wedding)
- She was an enemy of the bland, the anodyne, the mushy, the twee. She also loved Neighbours and Home & Away. She could see things no one else could. She was appalling at housework and was a vicar's wife who was as far from the stereotypical vicar's wife as was possible to be I wish you'd known her
- She would probably like to be remembered most of all as an artist. She could do pretty cottages, flowers, landscapes etc. But she also painted decaying plasterwork and congealed chicken fat. One work had dead frogs on. I once opened the fridge and found a decomposing sparrowhawk
- Pleased to see a piece about my book in la Repubblica. I've had a fondness for Italian newspapers since the early 1990s d.repubblica.it/culture/inte...
- A pleasant surprise! I've only just found out my book has received a starred review from Booklist (@ala-booklist.bsky.social), the influential American publication. Starred reviews indicate an 'outstanding title of a particular genre' and not many books get them, so that's nice
- The book is a 'perceptive meditation', a 'wild ride' and 'a unique look at a singular artist', so they say www.booklistonline.com/products/981...
- Also just discovered the book was on Barnes & Noble's list of The Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2026, alongside books by actual Sylvester Stallone, actual Cher and actual Liza Minnelli! Blimey www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/most-an...
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- How kind of you - thanks Amber!
- My book is published today in the USA! Blimey If any American readers are baffled by the book's references to Floella Benjamin, Paul Daniels and Zig & Zag, I apologise - just get in touch and I'll explain everything (And it's on the front page of @barnesandnoble.com's site!)
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- Ah, that's nice to hear in various ways - thank you (and yes books should indeed be available at the launch)!
- This was such an enjoyable afternoon - it was a pleasure to meet so many lovely people (inc @jondennis.bsky.social and @helenbarrett.bsky.social) and a privilege to join the panel at the end. Thanks to everyone involved!
- Really grateful for the chance to write about David Bowie in the Church Times, a paper that was always on the kitchen table first thing on a Friday morning while I was growing up and whose excellent journalism deserves widespread recognition www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202...
- The plaque outside rather sweetly describes him as 'Singer and Talented Musician'
- As we remember David on his birthday, this is lovely news. And it’s great to know that it’s in such caring and diligent hands. They really don’t come any better than Geoffrey Marsh and the rest of the team who are looking after this culturally enriching project. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...
- Goodness, there's a lovely review of my book in this week's Spectator 'One of the best and most original books of those published to mark a decade since Bowie's death' 'The Bowie you thought you knew is recast completely' spectator.com/article/the-...
- Also very happy with this line: 'Ormerod's gift to readers is his wide-ranging citations'. I was determined to make the book as rooted and grounded as it could be, because this topic could get a bit flighty. Really grateful this was acknowledged
- And the fact it's been reviewed by @helenbarrett.bsky.social - who definitely knows her Bowie - makes it all the better!
- Reposting this for its own sake but also because not enough people realise the video was directed by Stakka Bo
- Actual Stakka Bo youtu.be/sGNK-cOtxSs?...
- Really grateful to @johnfugelsang.bsky.social for having me on his show and putting me on his podcast. He's rightly regarded as a properly great interviewer - if I sound a bit thrown at times, it's because I was quite taken aback by how well he knew my book! open.spotify.com/episode/4786...
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- Ah, that's a relief - thanks!
- Very happy to see my book recommended by @theipaper.com as one of their top January reads 'Thoughtful rather than fan-driven, it adds a fresh take to the canon' It's in some pretty great company (Julian Barnes! Ali Smith! Others too!) inews.co.uk/culture/book...
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- Thanks Amber; also, happy new year!
- (I do blather a bit and I laugh inappropriately at one point because I thought he was making a joke about me being a fundamentalist when he was actually making a very sound point but hopefully my gist is gettable)
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- Thanks for your fine work in 2025 - looking forward to more in 2026 (and to seeing you at Foyles). Happy new year!
- A little post for New Year's Eve, including another lovely nugget from the V&A open.substack.com/pub/bowiegod...
