He was born in Glasgow and educated at the University of Edinburgh (1974-1978), he is a former editor of the New Edinburgh Review and works for The Times Literary Supplement, where he writes the weekly "New Brunswick" column under the pen-name J.C.
University of Edinburgh.
Bibliography
Invisible Country: A Journey Through Scotland, 1984
Gate Fever: Voices from a Prison, 1986
Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin, 1991
Paris Interzone: Richard Wright, Lolita, Boris Vian and Others on the Left Bank, 1994
Exiled in Paris: Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett and Others on the Left Bank (United States edition of above title), 1995
The Picador Book of Blues and Jazz (editor), 1995
This Is the Beat Generation: New York, San Francisco, Paris, 1999
Thom Gunn in Conversation with James Campbell, 2000
Syncopations: Beats, New Yorkers, and Writers in the Dark, 2008.
