Ben Myers

Ben Myers (born 1976 in Durham) is an English writer.

His first novel The Book Of Fuck, a fictionalised account about a hapless music journalist, was published to underground acclaim in 2004 through Wrecking Ball Press. Myers claimed it was written in six days "as a joke". It was published in Italian in 2005.

Myers' second novel, Richard: A Novel, was published by Picador in October 2010. He recently announced the publication of a new novel Pig Iron in 2012. His short stories and poems have appeared in numerous anthologies since 1999.

As a teenager Myers began writing for British weekly Melody Maker. In 1997 he became their staff writer. As of 2009 he has written about literature, music and the arts for a number of publications including Mojo, The Guardian, NME, Alternative Press, Kerrang!, Plan B, Arena, Bizarre, The Quietus, Vice, Shortlist, Caught By The River, Classic Rock, 3:AM Magazine, Mineshaft and Time Out. In 2011 he published an article about his brief time as an intern at News Of The World

Myers has also written a number of music biographies which have been widely translated. In the US he is published by Disinformation.

He is a founding member of the Brutalists, a literary collective including authors Adelle Stripe and Tony O'Neill and widely acknowledged as the first literary movement to be launched by social networking sites. From 2003 to 2008 Ben Myers also ran the independently-funded record label collective Captains of Industry.

He currently lives in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England.

Works

Fiction

• Pig Iron (2012)
• Richard (Picador, late 2010)
• The Book Of Fuck (Wrecking Ball Press, 2004)

Poetry

• Nowhere Fast (co-written with Tony O'Neill and Adelle Stripe (COI, 2008)
• Spam: Email Inspired Poems (Blackheath, 2008)
• I, Axl: An American Dream (online only, 2008–2009)

Non-Fiction / Essays

• American Heretics: Rebel Voices In Music (Codex, 2002)

Music Biography

• Muse : Inside the Muscle Museum (IMP 2004 and 2007)
• Green Day : American Idiots and the New Punk Explosion (IMP / Disinformation, 2005)
• John Lydon : The Sex Pistols, Pil and Anti-Celebrity (IMP 2005)
• System of a Down : Right Here In Hollywood (IMP / Disinformation, 2006)
• The Clash : Rock Retrospectives (2007, with Ray Lowry)

Anthologies

• The Rue Bella (Rue Bella, 1999–2002)
• The Reater #3 Wrecking Ball Press, 1999
• The Reater #4 Wrecking Ball Press, 2000
• The Edgier Waters: Five Years of 3:AM (Snow Books, 2006)
• The Flash (Social Disease, 2007)
• Spam Poetry Anthology (Vertice 1925, 2007)
• 3:AM: London, New York, Paris (Social Disease, 2007)
• Love Hotel City, Edited by Andrew Stevens (Future Fiction, 2009).
• Caught By The River: An Anthology Of Writing About British Rivers (Cassell, 2009)
• Dwang Issue #1 (Tangerine, 2009)
• Dwang Issue #2 (Tangerine, 2009)
• The Beat Anthology, Edited by Sean McGahey, (Blackheath Books, 2010).

External links

• Myers' blog
• Myers, Ben. Green Day : American Idiots & The New Punk Explosion. 1st American ed. New York, NY : Disinformation Co., 2006. ISBN 1-932857-32-X
• Ben Myers' Guardian articles and profile
• Captains Of Industry record label.
• Ben Myers' DrownedinSound articles and profile
• 3:AM magazine: Interview with Ben Myers, August 2004
• Caught in the Crossfire: Interview with Ben Myers
• Scarecrow: Interview with Ben Myers
• Ben Myers on Travis Jeppesen
• Ben Myers and The Brutalist poets, article in The Guardian, 2007
• An interview with Ben Myers (www.everydayyeah.com)
• Ben Myers interview with The Guardian