William Peskett
I am constantly exploring diverse structures for my literary work. Throughout my career, I have crafted novels, short fiction, prose, and rhythmic poetry, delighting in the unique challenges each format provides. If a single thread binds these works, I hope it is a sense of wit. I want you to enjoy these stories as much as I did.
Short stories
Novels
Poems
Best sellers
Essays
Selected by my colleague and editor Robert Johnstone, this anthology captures the essence of Thailand through eighteen distinct narratives. Curated from four different volumes, these pieces delve into the intricate connections between foreign visitors and the vibrant landscape of Thai culture and love. Johnstone notes they explore the various bonds formed within this unique environment. Available now in print, digital, or luxe editions.
A roadside sign once greeted travelers to Pattaya as The Extreme City, a moniker many find surprisingly modest. Here, everything reaches its peak: the fiery cuisine, the chaotic traffic, the riddles of local logic, and the relentless pursuit of joy. These observations follow the journey of an bewildered expat known as Kuhn Pobaan, translated as Mr Househusband. Grab your copy in softcover, digital format, or narrated audio.
Human Bloom presents a fresh gathering of sonnets equating our species' rapid progress to an aquatic algal surge—a swift expansion fueled by a sudden wealth of resources. While many poems are derived from earlier works with significant revisions, the collection is bolstered by a wealth of entirely original verses. Purchase in paperback, digital, or hardcover.
Of all my books, this is a personal favourite. It is the story of Alex, an ordinary schoolgirl, and her struggle to be noticeable. With an older brother who is set for Olympic glory in the swimming pool and a younger brother who has emerged as a Latin genius, Alex is the middle child and apt to be ignored. Often, she feels she is the only one in her family who feels a responsibility to hold it together.
My academic interests were strongly scientific, so I went up to Christ's College, Cambridge to read zoology. Not very sure what I was going to do next, I tried my hand at teaching, which I did in a wonderful school in Suffolk. I taught biology. It was good being young because I could still remember the biology I'd been taught at school and university. Now I'm old, I think I'd make a better teacher than I was in those days – better organised and more systematic. However, I've forgotten most of the biology, so the kids would continually catch me out.
Very little of this is recorded in photographs. People rarely take pictures of me except on holiday, as you can see, and even then I have to ask. After journalism, I went into business – actually in the City of London – first as a marketer for the accounting firm KPMG (some of my best friends are accountants) and then by starting up a design, editorial and communications company.
Running your own company is the best fun you can have in business when times are good. The prospect of all that money being stuffed through the letterbox makes you leap out of bed with glee in anticipation of another day at the entrepreneurial coal-face. But when times are bad, none of this is true. We had our ups and downs with the company, roughly in line with the boom-and-bust economy of which we discovered we were a part. However, we always managed to find some fun in it.
The very day after I retired, my wife and I were on a plane to Thailand. Seriously; it was the next day. Here, we have a modest bungalow on a slight slope above the sea in Pattaya, on the east coast. I wish I could say the photo was of our household pet, perhaps scaled down a little. If elephants didn't exist it would be essential, but not credible, to invent them. You should observe closely what they can do with their noses.
Wandering around in a state of advanced bemusement, not quite knowing what anyone's saying or what's going on, is what foreigners generally do here. Sometimes they 'go native' and dress up in what they convince themselves is traditional Thai garb to have their photos taken. It's a mystery why anyone would do this. That necklace, I recall, was made of plastic, but traditions have to start somewhere. If you thrive on mystery, you'd thrive here.
This is more or less what I look like now, though this isn't how I usually dress. When I look significantly older, I'll post a new picture. And by 'significantly' I mean what I consider to mean 'significantly'.
A BRIEF AUTOBiography
William Peskett
I was born in Cambridge, England but moved at an early age to Belfast in Northern Ireland where I went to school and did as much growing up as I was to achieve in most of my lifetime.
Belfast was a great place to be a writer – or, indeed, any kind of artist – in those days. The circle of like-minded people was small and enthusiastic and there were local institutions, such as the BBC, that encouraged young authors. A young writer seemed a good thing to be, so I began writing poems.
I couldn't really see myself being a teacher forever, so after a decent number of years I moved to London and became a researcher, writer and editor on Which? magazine, a unique institution which, in those days at least, was run by a smart and stimulating set of people. I spent my days testing things like electric drills. Once I wrote an article about wood, the first line of which I stole from the magazine's previous article about wood. I thought it couldn't be improved, so I copied it across word for word. The sentence was: 'Wood comes from trees.' My future as a communicator was assured.
Thinking I might have just one more job in me before I could decently retire, I joined Diageo, the huge drinks company, just to see what it would be like to do real work for a living. I met some wonderful people there – skilled, professional and up for a laugh, which has to be all you need. Working for Diageo was the most fun you can have without a drink in your hand. Occasionally, I did both simultaneously. The company is – to borrow a word commonly used the public relations department – global, which means that practically everyone in the world who drinks, drinks its products. Consenting adults, anyway. This provided me with copious opportunities for travel, particularly to Africa and Asia, which is one of the aspects of the job for which I am most grateful. I was of course sorry to go, but my retirement dream beckoned. This is a rare non-holiday photo.
That's the seaside resort of Pattaya you can just see in the background. This extraordinary town, and other bits of Thailand, now form the backdrop, and sometimes the foreground, of the essays, novels, short stories and verse I have been writing since coming here. Thailand has a fascinating culture that I do not begin to understand, but I'm hoping that that can be a good thing.
