Writer of Submarine, Wild Abandon and poems. Tiny eyes.

So novelist, poet and journalist Joe Dunthorne describes himself in his Twitter profile. The last remark seems a bit harsh, but you can judge for yourself when he visits Keats House this weekend as part of its Keats House Poets Present… series.

The first part, however, we can definitely go with: Joe is the author of the hugely successful Submarine, the debut novel he started working on while at university and which was made into a highly acclaimed film in 2010, directed by Richard Ayoade of The IT Crowd and Mighty Boosh fame, winning the latter a nomination for a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Director in 2012. This was followed in 2012 by Wild Abandon, and now he is busy writing his third novel.

“I’m in the middle of it. Well – maybe at the beginning,“ laughs the 32-year-old from Swansea.

“It’s going to be set in London – it’s my attempt at a London novel – and about two couples living on the same street who have different fortunes. I don’t know quite what it’s about yet, but hopefully I’ll find out soon. I hear the voice, that’s the primary thing, and then it’s a case of following that voice and seeing what it wants to say.“

Has it got a name yet?

“I change the title every day. Today’s one is not good, so I’m not going to tell you.“

As well as Untitled, Joe is also busy working on a collection of new poetry, some of which he’ll be premiering when he comes to Keats House, as well as some of his previous work: a collection of his poems was published in 2010 in the Faber New Poets series.

Growing up and starting out as a writer, Joe always used to think of himself as a poet, but it is actually his novel writing that is providing the bulk of his living.

“I always used to say poet because poetry is the kind of writing that I got the most out of,“ he says. “But whenever I’m supposed to be writing poetry I end up writing a story, and whenever I’m supposed to be writing fiction I end up writing poetry. They end up being a distraction from each other, which is quite interesting.“

As a child, Joe would produce comic books and computer games, but only developed an interest in creative writing when he was about 15, and it wasn’t until he went to the University of East Anglia to study creative writing, that he ‘took it seriously’, going on to do a Masters in creative writing as well.

It was in the final year of his degree that he started writing Submarine, a coming-of-age comedy drama about 15-year-old Oliver, who is trying to save his parents’ marriage at the same time as attempting to lose his virginity ‘before it becomes legal’. It was optioned for film before the novel had even been published, as producer Mary Burke had read a copy of the manuscript.

Joe even had a cameo in the film – which was subsequently cut.

"The bastards!" he laughs. “I played a drama teacher, wearing double denim. I suppose it was cut for time, but my secret fear is that it was so abundantly clear that I can’t act that they had to cut it.

“So, no, I won’t be pushing for a bigger part if they ever make Wild Abandon into a film.“

Joe may not be able to add ‘actor’ to that Twitter profile description just yet, but there’ll soon be a few more book titles to add to it – which should be enough to do away with those ‘tiny eyes’.

  • Keats House Poets Present… Joe Dunthorne is at Keats House, Keats Grove, Hampstead on Sunday, January 26, from 2pm to 4pm. Details: 020 7332 3868, keatshouse.org.uk