‘The clear obstacle facing any potential reformers of the laws on homosexuality was finding men “hardy” enough to risk the implication that the reason they cared about the rights of homosexuals was because they were homosexuals themselves.’

Tom Crewe: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

‘It was far from being the case that the law was always out for blood: significantly more homosexual offences were dismissed, or treated with fines, or noted only as “known to the police”, than were translated into committals.’

Tom Crewe: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

‘Homosexuality was a well-known social reality, framed in the language of everyday life and in the language of the law. What was missing was a political language in which the subject could be discussed by respectable parliamentarians.’

Tom Crewe: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Why not spend some of Saturday with my London Review of Books piece about James Pratt and John Smith, the last men executed for sodomy in Britain, which considers where their case fits in the history of homosexuality and the law between c.1780 and legalisation in 1967.

lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Why not spend some of Saturday with my London Review of Books piece about James Pratt and John Smith, the last men executed for sodomy in Britain, which considers where their case fits in the history of homosexuality and the law between c.1780 and legalisation in 1967.

lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Please spread the word as widely as possible. Calling all English teachers but everyone else too! Theme: A Secret. Judge: Philip Pullman

'The 1890s...were actually a period of optimism about what we would now call gay rights. We don’t remember this because what happened to Wilde changed the story.' Read Tom Crewe on the origins of his #WalterScottPrize longlisted debut novel, THE NEW LIFE
waterstones.com/blog/tom-crewe…

‘It took a private bill – and a lot of cultural change around ideas of masculinity, even more than around sex and religion – for homosexuality to finally be legalised in 1967 (though only in England and Wales).’

Tom Crewe on homosexuality and the law: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Delighted, and honoured, to have won an O. Henry Prize for my short story ‘The Room-Service Waiter’, selected by the 2024 editor amor towles, and first published in Granta:

lithub.com/announcing-the…

‘There was to be an exhibition. There were lots of pictures like his, apparently – of waiters, pastry cooks, valets, bellboys.’

Congratulations to Tom Crewe whose story ‘The Room Service Waiter’ has been selected for an O. Henry Prize by amor towles!

granta.com/the-room-servi…

Delighted, and honoured, to have won an O. Henry Prize for my short story ‘The Room-Service Waiter’, selected by the 2024 editor amor towles, and first published in Granta:

lithub.com/announcing-the…

‘The clear obstacle facing any potential reformers of the laws on homosexuality was finding men “hardy” enough to risk the implication that the reason they cared about the rights of homosexuals was because they were homosexuals themselves.’

Tom Crewe: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

We can’t believe it’s already been ONE MONTH since we awarded the #YoungWriterAward to Tom Crewe for his stunning novel The New Life, published by Chatto&Windus / Vintage Books✨

‘The point about homosexual offences in 19th-century Britain is precisely that they were not exceptional.’

Tom Crewe on a history of the last two men executed in Britain for sodomy:
lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

I have a piece in the new London Review of Books on Chris Bryant’s book about James Pratt and John Smith, the last two men to be executed for sodomy in Britain, and more broadly, about homosexuality and the law between the 18th century and legalisation in 1967.

lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

I have a piece in the new London Review of Books on Chris Bryant’s book about James Pratt and John Smith, the last two men to be executed for sodomy in Britain, and more broadly, about homosexuality and the law between the 18th century and legalisation in 1967.

lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/…

Our new issue, 46.08, is now online, featuring:

Sophie Smith on women in philosophy
Terry Eagleton on the origins of culture
Alexander Clapp on organised crime in Montenegro
eyal weizman on three genocides
and a cover by HelenNapperPaintings.

Read now at lrb.co.uk

It’s wonderful when a book lives up to all the praise and prizes. A fascinating story, so confidently told, with thoroughly real characters and agonising moral compromises. Brilliant! ⁦Young Writer Award⁩ ⁦Tom Crewe⁩

i'm writing a book!

Margaret Oliphant (1828–1897) was born #OTD , 4 April – a 🎂 🧵

“surely the most interesting and entertaining example of a woman writing about men in the 19th century”

— Tom Crewe in the London Review of Books on Margaret Oliphant’s 1866 novel MISS MARJORIBANKS
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lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/…