Featured image: Nikolai Duffy

Sitting with poet and author Nikolai Duffy at the Manchester Poetry Library, he speaks candidly about a new chapter in his life – one that leads him from poetry into the realm of prose. After nearly two decades teaching at the Manchester Writing School and building a career grounded in experimental poetry and contemporary literature, he is venturing into unfamiliar territory: the publication of his first novel, Common.

The novel unfolds between Manchester and Hampshire, where Nikolai grew up, with much of the narrative rooted in the landscapes of Ludshott Common, a place that held deep sentimental value for him as a child.

“It was a bit of a refuge for me from a slightly difficult kind of family environment, but it was a really beautiful place,” says Nikolai.

The seed of the book arrived years ago, although Nikolai didn’t immediately recognise it as a novel. He hadn’t returned to Ludshott Common in 20 years, but he often found himself thinking about his childhood refuge.

“About six years ago, in 2019, I started writing what I thought was a poem,” he says. “I’ve always written poetry before, just based on a place and the history of the landscape.”

That same year, Nikolai won a UNESCO City of Literature residency in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The interrupted time proved transformative: “I didn’t know I was writing a novel at first, but I got a month in an apartment with nothing to do and no expectations of my time apart from writing. I’d always wanted to start writing long-form, and this was the perfect opportunity,” he explains.

Nikolai describes Common as a novel that’s “meant to be funny, sad, infuriating.” Its narrator, he admits, is not always easy to like. “He behaves quite badly,” Nikolai says, laughing. “It was difficult to write a novel where the person speaking isn’t very likeable.”

Part of that difficulty stemmed from his refusal to give the character a neat arc of revelation. “Realistically, life is much messier, and sometimes there’s no revelation or salvation,” he explains. Despite this, the novel draws heavily on the traditions of place writing – exploring the landscape of the south of England, with influences from the Centre for Place Writing and its reflections on landscape and belonging.

This commitment to portraying life without moral resolution made the book a challenge for publishers. “Quite a few agents liked it but said no,” he recalls. “My favourite rejection was someone telling me, ‘You’ve written life as it’s actually lived, and no one wants to read that.’ And I thought, well – I want to read it, but I also want to write it.”

The result is a portrait of a man who is, as Nikolai puts it, “a kind of useless husband, father, worker – completely blind to the fact that he’s useless at everything.” Yet beneath his flaws lies a strange humanity. “He’s self-absorbed and oblivious,” says Nikolai. “Yet somehow, hopefully, kind of weirdly sympathetic and likeable.”

Transitioning from poetry to prose wasn’t simple. In this move – which he describes as “really challenging” – Nikolai credits his colleagues at the Manchester Writing School, particularly poet Dr Kim Moore and novelist and scriptwriter Dr Rachel Genn, for their guidance. “They were both very patient and lovely as they read early drafts and gave me some really thoughtful feedback.”

Common captures the beauty and chaos of ordinary life – unfiltered, unresolved and deeply human. It’s a striking debut that brings his poetic sensibility into the world of prose, offering readers a story that lingers long after the final page.

Now, with his first novel out in the world, Nikolai is eager to write the next one. “For my madness, I’m writing another novel,” he says. “But I’m finding this one much more enjoyable because I know what I’m doing this time around – and I know what I’m writing.” 

Common by Nikolai Duffy is published by Goldsmiths Press.