March 2011
'Enough that when Sir Paul (McCartney), a fan of the young actor, then asks if he would consider introducing him on stage at the Isle of Wight festival, Corden hears himself reply that he would love to, but unfortunately he has prior work commitments. It's a no.
Read Alan Franks' interview with James Corden in The Radio Times.

February 2011
'Actors who work with him find he raises their game and has an instinctive ability to register a character's response without straining for it. Uncanny, they say.'
Read Alan Franks' interview with actor Jim Broadbent in The Radio Times.

The Sins of the Sons reviewed in the Richmond and Twickenham Times:
'It is the story of two friends, Danny, the narrator, and Oliver. There is an incident of bullying with tragic consequences that haunts Danny through the years of his early adulthood. The second half of the book explores how he copes with his bereavement and his desire for revenge.'

Kate Saunders reviews The Sins of the Sons in The Times (£):
'The awful farcical and tragic consequences shape Danny’s future as he vows to take revenge. This is a spiky black comedy about growing up and gaining wisdom.'

September 2010

Alan's poem 'My love is like' is published in The Times. He says: 'It's a combination of reading too much Robert Burns and hearing two men on a train talking passionately about fishing.' Read the poem via the link to poetry on the left.

August 2010

Launch at the Poetry Cafe on Wednesday 4 August of Alan's new book of poetry, Unmade Roads.

April 2010

Exclusive to this site: Read under the journalism section above Alan's report on  contemporary language and dialect, The Way We Speak Now.


February 2010

As Lucy Prebble's Enron transfers to the West End, read Alan's interviewwith director Rupert Goold.


Saturday 12 September: Exclusive on Ted Hughes.

Alan breaks a great story right back from postwar London,when art school graduate Jim Downer gave illustrations for a children’s book to a friend he lived with, Ted Hughes, who promised to 'take a look'. The project seemed to die, the friends moved on. Now, more than 50 years later, the book – complete with Hughes’s verse – is finally to be published. Alan talked to Downer about this lost Hughes work, and the remarkable bohemian world that was their 18 Rugby Street home The full story is here.


Read Alan's interview with Alison Balsom.

Read Alan's interview with Andy Murray, online here for the first time.

Monday 20 April: Alan interviews Professor Brian Cox 'at the outer edge of plausibility.'

Monday 23 March: Read John the Present , the first of four new poems in Alan's Alan's poetry section.
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Sunday 22 March: Read Alan's interview with Welsh 'sex bomb' Tom Jones. Saturday 7 March.

Check out this insightful analysis of The English Village.

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Read Alan Franks on the on the art of creative writing in the new section of his website that will be devoted to his many plays and other fiction.

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Saturday 7 February

Read Alan's interview with the 'French Sinatra'. Read it all here..

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Read more here about Going Over.

Saxophonist Tim Whitehead and soprano Kathleen Willison recently sang new jazz songs written by Tim and Alan at Bedales Arts. Tim is currently artist in residence at Tate Britain., a project supported by the Leverhulme Trust. Alan will be contributing some of the 'words' to the final art/performance show, about musical 'colour'.

The website of Alan Franks is built and maintained by  Ruthie Gledhill.