In 2014, a vast array of photographers, both amateur and professional, including residents of London as well as visitors, captured the essence of 58,000 streets across London. This ambitious initiative—sparked by Geoff Nicholson’s novel *Bleeding London*—culminated in an exhibition at City Hall and inspired similar projects by photography enthusiasts throughout Europe. The project marked a significant highlight in Nicholson’s 50-year writing career before his passing at the age of 71.
*Bleeding London* was the tenth of Nicholson’s 17 novels, written between 1987 and 2024, in addition to 10 nonfiction works, numerous short stories and contributions to anthologies, and a variety of well-received blogs. His surreal and intricate comedies, often seen as transgressive, did not always achieve commercial success, although his third novel, *What We Did on Our Holidays* (1990), was adapted into the 2007 film *Permanent Vacation*, featuring David Carradine.
Despite the erratic commercial success of his works, several earned critical praise. *Bleeding London* (1997) and his debut novel, *Street Sleeper*, were contenders for literary awards. *Bedlam Burning* (2002) was recognized as a notable New York Times book of the year, while *Day Trips to the Desert* (1993) was featured as a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime.
Nicholson embraced his early accolades less than some of his contemporaries, such as Jonathan Coe or Will Self, remaining somewhat of an outsider in the UK literary scene. However, he cultivated a dedicated following, particularly in Los Angeles, where he lived and wrote from 2006 to 2018.
In Los Angeles, alongside his second wife, Dian Hanson, whom he married in 2006, Nicholson became a contributing editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books and an established member of the literary community. It was during this period that he delved deeper into themes of mapping and walking, investigating how emotions, behaviors, and places intersect, a focus that resonated with the rising interest in psychogeography.
Nicholson was born in Hillsborough, a working-class area of Sheffield, as the only son of Geoffrey, a carpenter, and Violet. After excelling in the 11-plus exam, he attended King Edward VII grammar school, later going on to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1972 to study English. He further pursued a degree in drama at Essex University before immersing himself in London’s literary scene, working in bookstores while nurturing his writing aspirations during the evenings.
His early career involved scripting for Radio 4, contributing travel and food articles, and writing theater reviews for publications like Time Out. He also wrote sketches for television shows including Not the Nine O’Clock News and Chris Tarrant’s Saturday Stayback, and had his stories published in the quarterly literary magazine Ambit. In 1987, noted science fiction author JG Ballard, who succeeded Nicholson as Ambit’s fiction editor, praised *Street Sleeper* as “witty, zany, and brilliantly comic.”
Many of Nicholson’s protagonists are characterized by a sense of disorientation, grappling with their circumstances. Often, their challenges take a violent turn, yet the resolutions are typically infused with humor, featuring complex plots that lead to elaborate, improbable, and even apocalyptic scenarios. His characters, feeling a lack of control over their lives, find solace in their obsessive relationships with material objects, such as the electric guitar, deserts, and cocktails.
Nicholson harbored a lifelong passion for the Volkswagen Beetle, amassing a collection of hundreds of toy models of the iconic car, which prominently appears in two of his novels. Themes of sexual fetishism are also prevalent, especially in *Footsucker* (1995), where the protagonist is fixated on women’s feet, and in the nonfiction work *Sex Collectors* (2006), which explores the world of pornography collectors through interviews.
As he aged, Nicholson’s engagement with the world became more direct and subtle. Walking emerged as the central theme in five of his final eight published works, although in *The Miranda* (2017), the exploration follows an act of extreme violence. Despite this, the tone of his later writing shifted to a gentler note, with increasingly crystalline prose.
Nicholson had a talent for breaking down complex ideas, as noted by a New York Times reviewer who remarked that he was “a rare writer capable of referencing Jacques Lacan without causing readers to toss his book across the room.”
This period in his life aligned with a more tranquil chapter. Following his divorce from Dian, Nicholson returned to Britain in 2018, settling in the town of Manningtree, Essex. Soon after, he was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer, which was largely controlled. He found companionship in Caroline Gannon, whom he met during the *Bleeding London* project.
Nicholson embraced daily walks, exploring streets both near and far with his camera in hand. He documented his adventures by taking photographs and collecting intriguing finds—be it a uniquely colored rock, a discarded magazine, or an unexpectedly captivating item from a thrift store.
Much of this exploration informed his 2021 publication, *The Suburbanist*, where he humorously critiqued the monotonous, predictable patterns of lower middle-class life and the presumption of its intellectual critics. His final work, the nonfiction text *Walking on Thin Air* (2023), offered an open reflection on his illness, yet it resonated more as a celebration of life than an acknowledgment of death. Although he had not anticipated it would be his concluding piece, the subtitle, *A Life’s Journey in 99 Steps*, turned out to be prophetic.
He is survived by his partner Caroline.
Geoffrey Joseph Nicholson, novelist, born March 4, 1953; passed away January 18, 2025.
