Journalism
My name is James Riding and I'm a journalist. I read English at Magdalen College, Oxford and am currently studying for an MA in Newspaper Journalism at City, University of London.
I have contributed essays, interviews and book reviews to Literary Review, The London Magazine, Review 31 and New Critique, on topics such as Shakespeare, Dickens, Ovid, Beckett and the East India Company.
My news bylines include the Hackney Gazette, Hampstead & Highgate Express and Brent & Kilburn Times. I have reported on the fintech industry, startup companies, community kitchens and the new Goodysard development in Hackney.
Below is a selection of my writing.
© Katy Thompson/Nuri Moseinco
Contact: jamesriding1056@gmail.com
Twitter: @jamesriding10
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Essay | The Most Mercenary of Men - February 2021
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Essay | The Flood Leads on to Fortune - October 2020
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Essay | Books That Changed My Life: ‘Tales from Ovid’ - 14 August 2020
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Interview | James Shapiro on cinematic storytelling and ‘Shakespeare in a Divided America’ - 4 August 2020
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Interview | A. Naji Bakhti on ‘Between Beirut and the Moon’, inheritance and coming of age in Lebanon - 31 July 2020
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Interview | Ra Page on Stories of Uprising and Protest in the Age of Coronavirus - 1 May 2020
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Review | Wing - 29 April 2020
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Interview | Sam Riviere on Martial, Authenticity and Stealing - 6 April 2020
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Interview | Joo Yeon Park on Beckett, Failure and 'the Unword' - 28 Feb 2020
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Covid-safe shared workspaces in Hackney on flexibility without formalities - 18 January 2021
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Robert Crampton reveals East End brawls against BNP before gentrification - 8 January 2021
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Councils side with Bishopsgate Goodsyard campaigners as GLA thumbs up development - 2 December 2020
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Hackney startup expands despite pandemic amid the ‘heartbeat of fintech in London’ - 9 November 2020




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Murder, They Spoke - July 2020
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On Deaf Ears - April 2020
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What Lies Beneath - December 2019
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Dickens's Spirits - 25 December 2020
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One Little Room An Everywhere - June 2020
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Brent prepares for Fairtrade Fortnight amidst Covid and Brexit - 7 January 2021
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Covid-hit community kitchen reopens amid ‘heartrending’ rise in demand - 6 January 2021
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‘People need beer’: Craft breweries deliver to drinkers in lockdown - 9 January 2021
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'It’s not fair on responsible operators': pubs hit by takeaway drinks ban - 5 January 2021



My long read 'The Flood Leads on to Fortune' in The London Magazine (October 2020)
Research
In 2019, I assisted A. N. Wilson with research and fact-checking for his book The Mystery of Charles Dickens (2020).
