Personal Life
Coe married Janine McKeown in 1989, and they have two daughters born in 1997 and 2000.
In 2009, Coe took part in Oxfam's first annual book festival – 'Bookfest'. Along with William Sutcliffe, Coe volunteered for the Oxfam Bloomsbury Bookshop in London on Thursday 9 July. Coe and Sutcliffe were each asked to choose a theme, and to find books from the stockroom to set up in the shop's window. Coe chose satire as the theme for his display. He chose books about or by Michael Moore, Bill Hicks and Steve Bell, and Tragically I Was an Only Twin: The Comedy of Peter Cook. He also unearthed a script of Terry Gilliam’s film, Brazil.
Coe donated a story to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Coe's story was published in the Earth collection.
He is a trustee of the charity Cleared Ground Demining, and in spring 2007 visited Guinea-Bissau to write an article about their operations there.
In a 2001 newspaper interview, Coe described himself as an atheist.
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