Simon Maginn (born 1961 in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

, Merseyside) is a British writer who has written five novels under his own name: ''

Sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

'' (Corgi 1994), ''Virgins and Martyrs'' (Corgi, 1995), ''A Sickness of the Soul'' (Corgi 1995), ''Methods of Confinement'' (Black Swan 1996) and ''Rattus'' (Pendragon Press 2010). The last of these was published alongside a novella by Gary Fry entitled ''The Invisible Architect of Psychopathy''. Maginn's novels are horror/psychological thrillers. A film version of ''Sheep'' was released as '' The Dark'' in 2005. Maginn's satirical comedies were published under the pseudonym Simon Nolan: ''As Good as it Gets'' (Quartet Books, 1999), ''The Vending Machine of Justice'' (Quartet Books, 2001) and ''Whitehawk'' (Revenge Ink, 2010). In 1993, Maginn was one of six authors chosen by

W. H. Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...

for a campaign involving a purchase of 20,000 paperback books. At the time, Maginn was a music teacher. In 2018, Maginn was accused of

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

over tweets criticising accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party. He was investigated by the Labour Party over antisemitism claims. Maginn cancelled his membership of the Labour Party while under investigation. He is best-known today for his Twitter campaign targeting anti-racists, alleging that the antisemitism crisis in Labour was a 'scam,' in spite of clear evidence from the

Forde Report Allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) have been made since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the party in September 2015. After comments by Naz Shah in 2014 and Ken Livingstone in 20 ...

and EHRC investigations that the extent of antisemitism in Labour was not exaggerated.

References

1961 births Living people 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists British male novelists 20th-century British male writers 21st-century British male writers {{UK-novelist-stub