Nick Hornby's Blog

This just in from the Ministry Of Stories, a creative writing school for young people based on Dave Eggers' inspirational 826 schools in the US. As you can see, we need everything – including money, of course.

Hello There,

We really need help. Over the next month the rather bland carcass of 159 Hoxton Street, N1 will be transformed into a monster supply shop, with a Ministry of Stories secreted behind its humble facade. We are working with a great team of designers, but we need people power to make it happen in time.

We are going to be holding working parties and need volunteers to come along and help paint, build, arrange, clean and hold things steady whilst someone drills – you get the pictures. If you can make any of the following times, please just turn up and lend a hand.

WORKING PARTY TIMETABLE

evenings of Monday 18 October and Tuesdays 5, 12 & 19 October 5pm-10pm every Sunday from now until 24 October Monday 25 – Thursday 28 10am – 10pm

EQUIPMENT

We are realising how much equipment a Ministry needs, and are starting a drive for donations. If you are able to donate any of the following useful

things-

please contact info@ministryofstories with the subject line 'I can donate a [insert your much needed and gratefully received item here]'.

a hoover

a mop and bucket

30 drinking water cups for a class

laminator

shredder

binding machine

children's books in good condition (including picture dictionary, dictionary, range of ages up to young adult/adult) portable stereo teapot microphone and stand small pa system suspension files for filing cabinet telephone pinboard extension leads

We'd also like to borrow some things that will help us with our fit out.

Do you have any of these things that you could lend us through October?

Paintbrushes, paint trays and rollers

Stepladder

Dustsheets

Sewing machines

Large car/van and driver for IKEA trip

Thanking you in advance. Over and out.

The Ministry of Stories

But only to post a link… This is 'Things You Think', a video Ben Folds and I made with the wonderful Pomplamoose. I promise you, I do not speak or sing on the forthcoming album 'Lonely Avenue'. Not for a single second.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G5JaicYuVU&feature=player_embedded

I hope you had a good summer.

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby proudly present, on September 28th…

http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/ben-folds-adds-music-to-nick-hornby-s-words-for-lonely-avenue-due-september-28-on-nonesuch-2010-06-14

As the advertisement says: it means more when there's money on it, and in our house, every single game between anyone at all means at least a little.

I had England to win two-nil on Saturday night. If only I knew someone who was a decent tipster:

http://www.gq.com/sports/guides/201006/world-cup/nick-hornby-vs-sean-wilsey-world-cup-2010#ixzz0qoud7VQ5

I have been nominated by the American Biographical Institute, Inc "to receive the GOLD MEDAL FOR ENGLAND (their caps), in the name of your people and England." My acceptance, the ABI tells me, will solidify my achievements "into tangible form – an elegant showpiece for any home or office … Every eye that is cast upon the plaque will immediately perceive the profundity of your impression on your country."  I am, as you can imagine, both flattered and honoured, although there doesn't seem to...

…  weeks go by before I feel compelled to post anything on this site. Words don't come very easily to me, which, given my profession, is a worrying impediment. I am always amazed when editors, at publishing houses and newspapers, tell me (and they do, often) that a certain writer has submitted something that is a thousand or ten thousand or one hundred thousand words longer than they had anticipated. Theses writers, I suspect, would have no trouble contributing a couple of little items a...

My advice to you: if you get nominated for an Oscar, don't play it cool. Not the first time it happens, anyway. In the event of multiple nominations over several years, you're allowed to skip a couple of parties; if you're a novice, however, you should really make the effort. I did, and I don't regret a second of it.

Impressions of the weekend, in no particular order: our producer, Finola Dwyer an Oscar nominee too – on the verge of being escorted from the Kodak Theatre after a ticketless...

The Oscar Nominees' lunch a couple of weeks ago was an extremely jolly affair. After our group photo, we were called up onto a stage, one by one, to be given our nomination certificates, while the rest of the class whooped and clapped. We were called up in reverse alphabetical order (Hans Zimmer, who composed the  score for 'Sherlock Holmes', was first up); I was worried that, as I'm nearer the beginning of the alphabet than the end, nobody famous would be left to clap me. But then I scanned ...

So far, 2010 has been eaten away by 'An Education', but after the Oscars, it's back to work. I'm going to concentrate on two or three film and TV projects this year, all of which are at very early stages. I have, however, returned to my 'Stuff I've Been Reading' column in The Believer, I'm happy to say, after eighteen months away. I'm racing through David Kynaston's brilliant Austerity Britain, almost certainly to the bemusement of the young American readers of the magazine. Serves them...

There is, it turns out, a lot of paperwork associated with an Oscar nomination. Yesterday we had to sign a form promising that we wouldn't sell our statuettes; we also had to fill out a questionnaire which asked us, among other things, which of our fellow nominees we would like to meet. My wife, after thinking about it for a good three seconds, replied "George Clooney." She stuck an exclamation mark after his name. Somewhere in Los Angeles, an official of the Academy of Arts and Motion...