About Andy Hawthorne

Welcome to my blog, I write dialogue-driven comedy and darker stuff set in working-class Britain.

I'm Andy, a 61-year-old indie author from Coventry, writing the sort of working-class comedy I grew up hearing in factories, pubs and bus queues. Think Roddy Doyle's ear for talk, but swap North Dublin for the English Midlands and a backdrop of hard graft, bad décor and strong tea.

What to Expect

Most of my stories are driven by mouths, not car chases. People gossiping over a greasy spoon breakfast, winding each other up in the van, trying to laugh their way through debt, grief, useless managers and the general daftness of being alive. The tone's "cup of tea and a side-eye": plenty of jokes, but they're wrapped round something real.

By day I manage a web development team to pay the bills. By night I'm in the company of Joe, Bob, and a cast of other poor sods who can't seem to stay out of trouble. I also write darker pieces - horror that still sounds like it's being told by someone on a fag break round the back of the building.

I'm a diagnosed PTSD sufferer, which means the humour often has a bit of an edge: gallows jokes, people coping badly, finding odd little pockets of kindness in between the cock-ups. If you like your comedy old-school, British, slightly scruffy and rooted in real places and real voices, you'll probably feel at home here.

Stick the kettle on, have a nose around, and if something makes you snort into your brew, feel free to stay.

Get in Touch

Writing is a conversation. If a post resonates with you, or if you completely disagree with something I've said, I'd love to hear from you. You can drop me a line at andy@andyhawthorne.co.uk, or subscribe to the RSS feed to stay updated when new posts drop.

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."
— Ernest Hemingway