Damian Thompson

Damian Thompson is chief sub-editor and books editor at WoI, having previously spent most of his career in illustrated-book publishing. A new edition of his Books Make a Home: Elegant Ideas for Storing and Displaying Books has just been brought out by Ryland Peters & Small. He also contributes occasional pieces on food and culture to the art magazine Apollo. Cooking and eating out are big loves, as are squash, his choir (the Hackney Singers) and composing music playlists. Other means of keeping aphasia at bay are a long-standing book group and the daily challenge of the Guardian cryptic crossword – as are working out how to play (easy) Bach piano pieces and being beaten at chess by one of his two teenage sons, with whom he lives in Hackney, east London.