Andrew Hankinson. Writer.
ABOUT ME
I’ve been a professional writer since 2003. I’ve written for the New Yorker, Air Mail, Wired, FT Weekend Magazine, Observer, BBC Radio 4, GQ, Spectator, Esquire, The Athletic, New Statesman, Telegraph and Sunday Times. I’ve written two nonfiction books and won awards. I was also the artistic advisor on the Royal Court Theatre’s production of Manhunt in 2025. You can email me at andrewhankinson [@] hotmail.com. My agent is Toby Mundy.
JOURNALISM
I trained as a journalist at Darlington College, worked as a staff writer in London, then became a freelancer. I’ve reported from places such as Haiti, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, covering complex stories such as chemical weapons and heart surgery. (The picture above is me during a week of reporting at Chernobyl when its new shelter was being built.) Some recent work and older work is linked below:
Sycamore Gap (Observer, 2025)
A play about Raoul Moat (Daily Telegraph, 2025)
Working from home (Spectator, 2025)
Saudis bought Newcastle (Air Mail, 2024)
The age of uncancelling (Spectator, 2024)
Was Gordon Burn a Geordie writer? (QT, 2024)
A boy who killed himself (BBC Radio 4, 2020)
The Metrocentre (New Narratives, 2020)
Children dying in Haiti (Vice, 2017)
Syria's chemical weapons (Wired, 2014)
Newcastle cuts (New Statesman, 2013)
Northern Rock (Guardian, 2011)
Being broke (Observer Magazine, 2010)
DON'T APPLAUD. EITHER LAUGH OR DON'T. (AT THE COMEDY CELLAR.)
My second nonfiction book, published in 2020 in the UK and 2021 in the US, told the story of a comedy club in New York. It was about power, speech, and the return of Louis CK. Responses included:
“Superb” The Atlantic
“Excellent” Dara Ó Briain
”Thought-provoking” TLS
“Hankinson is a master of showing, not telling” Helen Lewis
“Fascinating” Al Murray
“Compelling” Unherd
“A fascinating book” Monocle
“Fucking fantastic” Doug Stanhope
“All the makings of a future cult classic” Benjamin Myers
YOU COULD DO SOMETHING AMAZING WITH YOUR LIFE [YOU ARE RAOUL MOAT]
My debut book was published in 2016. It told the true story of the murderer Raoul Moat from Moat's point of view in second-person. It won a Northern Writers Award and the CWA non-fiction prize.
“Extraordinary” Spectator
“Brilliantly written [...] Smart literary nonfiction" Jon Ronson
“A powerful portrayal of the banality of violence” Sunday Times
“An experiment in empathy” Louis Theroux
“Uncomfortable, claustrophobic” Guardian
“A remarkable book” Irish Independent
“Uncomfortable work, and necessary" TLS
“Powerfully and claustrophobically effective” London Review of Books
”Perhaps the most brilliant piece of extended journalism in recent years” Jewish Chronicle
“Desperately sad” Observer
“Devastating” LA Review of Books
“Riveting and formally dazzling” The Atlantic
APPEARANCES
I've appeared on television and radio, including BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live, Newsnight and Daily Politics. I’ve done events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, London's Southbank Centre, and at festivals around the UK. I was a Read Regional author in 2017, contributed to New Narratives for the North East in 2020, and was a Gordon Burn Prize judge in 2024. I've also appeared on podcasts such as Shakespeare & Co, Always Take Notes, Little Atoms and Monocle.
LOGROLL PODCAST
I started a podcast in 2021. Each episode is me interviewing an author about a nonfiction book they wrote. Guests have included Ed Caesar, Sam Knight, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Alia Malek and Adam Hochschild. It's available on most platforms or here.
TEACHING
I got a distinction in a creative writing MA at Newcastle University in 2016, after which I taught writing there to undergraduates and postgraduates for several years, including creative nonfiction.