Robert Ryan Updated: 9.8.2010 The 2010 Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival will be held from 11-19 March. RTHK Radio 3 is proud to be the Radio partner of the festival once again, and Sarah Passmore was joined by Robert Ryan to talk about the difference between writing journalism and novel, and his writing life.

After studying natural sciences at university in London, he began his writing career as a journalist in the late 1980s for The Face, Arena and GQ (US edition) before taking up a staff job at The Sunday Times.

In 1999, after the publication of his first novel, Underdogs, Ryan left the newspaper to concentrate on his novels although he still contributes frequently to the newspaper as freelance writer.

Ryan has published twelve novels under his own name and two, Steel Rain and Copper Kiss, as Tom Neale. He has also collaborated with jazz trumpeter Guy Barker on a piece based on his novel, Underdogs, and with dZf on a “jazz noir” version of “The Magic Flute”. Ryan’s latest novel is Death on the Ice.