About Ian Gouge

Welcome!

I’m fascinated by how people relate to their histories, the decisions they take, the relationships they have. Our past informs our present and steers our future — whether we like it or not. Trying to capture some of that is what drives my writing.

In addition to writing fiction, I also need to confess that I am a sometime poet, creative writing mentor, and Indie Publisher. Perhaps that puts me in the ‘master of none’ category, but it’s who I am. Please don’t judge me too harshly!

Writing until the light goes out (my Substack site)is dedicated to sharing my writing journey with you – which, let’s be honest, is my attempt to out-run Death…

Readings & Performances

I can offer a number of readings / performances of my work either in person (depending on location) or via Zoom. These include:

Crash. A poetic monologue performed as a one-man show (in person only); performance duration 40 minutes;
Short stories. A select of short stories taken from Dead-heading Roses in the Museum Garden (2026), Dust, dancing (2024), and An Irregular Piece of Sky(2023); reading duration 45-60 minutes;
not the Sonnets. A selection of poems from my collection not the Sonnetsbased on/inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnets; reading duration 30-45 minutes;
Poetry. A selection of poems taken from Less and Selected Poems (1976-2022); reading duration c. 45 minutes;
Novel excerpts & discussion (depending on the requirement and novel concerned); format and duration to be agreed upon.

These readings are currently offered free of charge (the only cost being that associated with any travel & accommodation) — though it would be nice to sell a few books as a result!

Please Direct Message / email me if you’re interested.

Praise for my work:

“Ian Gouge has written a delightful novel that reminded me of the writing style of Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway. I’m my opinion this novel deserves to be up there with these literary greats.” – for 17 Alma Road

“this honest exploration of human nature helped me understand myself better” – for Once Significant Others

“Sally Rooney meets Henry James” – also for Once Significant Others

“My new year started with reading Ian’s novel, At Maunston Quay, and it was perfect. I had forgotten that for the last two years I have bounced between quarantined home life and fitful re-entries into social settings. Ian’s book grounded me with slow, gentle reminders that our connections with ourselves, our environment, and each other can heal in miraculous ways. Ian, thank you for this gift! You made me cry on the subway!” – for At Maunston Quay

It’s already been a hell of a ride…

Born as an only child into an impoverished existence, I suppose there were several ways my life could have turned out, few of them pretty. By the time I left school at 16 I had lived in seventeen different places, been homeless three times…

Don’t ask me where my love of writing came from (certainly not the rest of my family), but it has always been there. After two unsatisfying years working post-school — British Rail and The Ministry of Defence — I went back to college at eighteen and then off to University. In English literature and creative writing I found my happy place.

Fed-up with being poor, I gave up my love for literature to earn some money. Yes, it meant that subsequently I was always comfortable enough financially, but on reflection the price paid was too high: nearly forty years in an industry for which I now care little. Indeed, not just the industry but the whole money- and profit-driven commerciality of the workaday world.

Yet having said that, my ‘professional life’ did give me a lot in return. I have to say that. I’ve travelled all over the world, and spent periods living in Switzerland and Singapore. And now? A nice house and enough money in the bank to live.

And time to write.

For the last fourteen years or so I have been trying to make up for those lost years; to claw back all those things that are impossible to salvage: the novels I never wrote, the poems that never saw the light of day. My being prolific is driven by that, the desire to get as much of ‘me’ down on paper – and my world view I suppose – while I can.

Call it an exorcism if you like, but that is what now drives me and my writing. That and the desire to share, to hold up a mirror – and in doing so perhaps to move or inspire just a little…