Rick Gekoski

In 1971, Gekoski joined the English Department at Warwick University, where he was joint convener of the B.A. degree in philosophy and literature, promoted to senior lecturer in 1980, and served for some years as Chair of the Faculty of Arts. He resigned from the department in 1984 to open a business as a rare book dealer.

He has founded two private presses, The Sixth Chamber Press and (with Tom Rosenthal) The Bridgewater Press, which issues limited editions by well-known writers. Widely regarded as one of the leading dealers in the world, he is a member of the ABA and ILAB. He has taught Creative Non-Fiction for the Arvon Foundation and sat on their development board. He is a former trustee and member of the board of English PEN, and was elected an Honorary Vice-President of that body in 2014.

Gekoski has written and produced three series of Rare Books, Rare People for BBC Radio 4 and two series of Lost, Stolen, or Shredded: The History of Some Missing Works of Art, also for Radio 4.

He has written several non-fiction books - featuring his favourite topics of football, book dealing, reading and art - including Staying Up, Tolkien’s Gown and Outside of a Dog. In 2017 he published his first novel, Darke, which was shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize and the Author’s Club First Novel Prize. It was followed in 2019 by A Long Island Story, and in 2020 by Darke Matter, a sequel to Darke.

Rick Gekoski was a judge for The Man Booker Prize in 2005 and also a judge (Chair) for The Man Booker International Prize in 2011.