Ian Penman (born 1959) is a British writer, music journalist and critic. He began his career as a writer for the New Musical Express in 1977, later contributing to various publications including Uncut, Sight & Sound, The Wire, The Face, and The Guardian. He has published two collections of his essays and articles, plus full-length studies of filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, for which he won the Ondaatje Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and of composer Erik Satie.
Books in order of publication:
Vital Signs: Music, Movies, and Other Manias. (1998, Serpent’s Tail).
It Gets Me Home, This Curving Track (2019, Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Fassbinder: Thousands of Mirrors (2023, Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Erik Satie Three Piece Suite (2025, Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Oak Lawn Library Friends 