The London Launch of Essential Audio Books : Senate House the University of London on Thursday 17 at 6.30.
On Wednesday 16 Katie Isbester and Catherine O’Brien the founders of Claret Press and Essential Audiobooks were in Oxford appearing on local TV. oxford-press-release https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_RYEXL9960&list=PLA7BT6X6QX-wVpAnedPnm9wpYMR76yJk4 -Katie and Catherine on Talk Oxfordshire. This picture was taken at a party for Catherine and Katie at my home the day before the launch.
The Arthur Probsthain Book Shop: Great Russell Street opposite the British Museum on Wednesday 24
This charming bookshop which specialises in Chinese Art is the perfect place for me to talk about the Stars! My motivation for writing Brushstrokes in Time was that I wanted the world to know about these brave artists. Why, in 2005, their relative international obscurity? Did the description ‘self –taught’ marginalise them? If they are self-taught, they had amazing teachers ! Works by Qu Leilei and Ma Desheng are currently on display in room 91 of the British Museum where you can decide for yourself. ( My talk takes place opposite the BM) At the Atkis Gallery you’ll discover sculpture by Wang Keping.
In 1979, he was a ‘junior’ Star but the Star of them all is Ai Weiwei .Brushstrokes in Time seems to be making waves because of the relationship of my fictional artist Little Winter and her mixed heritage daughter. Depicting that came from within me because my own sons are of mixed heritage. The years of research went into the Stars! (There were female Stars – Li Shuang and Shao Fei. )
Joy Zhang of the Meridian Society recorded this interview with me. The Meridian Society has a public facebook page
Joy Zhang made this video of me talking about how my 10 year obsession with the Stars Art Movement began. The result was surprising even to me – a novel called Brushstrokes in Time. It is the memoir of a fictional artist told to her teenage American daughter but readers are saying they start to believe it is real. The background detail is authentic and historical and so their reaction is understandable.
Watlington Library Oxfordshire
Friday 18 at 7.30pm . Watlington would like me to focus on the Cultural Revolution. 2016 is the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of the Cultural Revolution which lead to inter- generational conflict and is the background to Little Winter’s teenage years.
The Green Fair : Oxford Town Hall December 2016
