“I can’t actually remember exactly when we first met. It would have been somewhere in Japan, or at least those would be the first encounters I can remember. There were Spot the Dog books and Bangers and Mash books and I remember finding Not Now, Bernard unreasonably funny. A story about being ignored I guess resonated with a needy two year old. Reading it now to my own children, I find the story almost laughably dark. A child who cannot get his parents’ attention is eaten by a monster. The monster then takes the child’s place but cannot get the parents’ attention either. In fact, the parents don’t even notice that Bernard is gone. I also remember my dad trying to explain a little how you work, what a metaphor is. There was a book he tried to read to me and in one of the early chapters there was this phrase about “feet kissing the cobbles” in the rain. I remember him trying to explain that obviously the feet aren’t literally kissing the cobbles – feet can’t kiss anything really – but that it sort of helped you to imagine it better. I don’t think I got it and also he gave up on reading me the book because I was so easily distracted, but I have always liked that about you, that you can say one thing and mean another. There’s something oddly pretty about that.” For issue 31, Will Sharpe meditates on the importance of writing. Full piece in bio, photography @arnofrugier, styling @mitchellbelk, grooming @mr.hiroshi.matsushita. Sharpe wears @giorgioarmani AW22