Nancy Mudenyo Hunt and I talked to the Friends of Watlington Library last night about the novel we unusually wrote together Not so Black and White . I described how we found a way into our story of Precious Mukosi.
My last visit to India in 2018 was not to the sights of Mughal India, unlike in the pic above taken in 1992, but to a much more ANCIENT India. I was researching for the subplot of Sculpting the Elephant
For German readers of Pinselstriche and for those of you who have read Brushstrokes in Time and are interested in the background, Little Winter’s father is inspired by Qu Bo the famous father of the Stars artist Qu Leilei. Leilei,
I’ve just picked up the proof copy of the printed version of the Oxford Indie Book Fair Magazine from Andy Severn of OxfordeBooks. It is essentially an online magazine: you can read this third edition on the link. If you
On Saturday Live this morning, the poet Simon Armitage was talking about his poem Event Horizon. In 2007, I had the privilege to review an Antony Gormley exhibition also called Event Horizon at the Hayward Gallery - one of the
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/06/dozens-of-hong-kong-pro-democracy-figures-arrested-in-sweeping-crackdown This is so sad because the political pendulum is swinging back towards Mao’s Cultural Revolution. I have been interested in China from childhood and studied some modules of Chinese history at college when that was rare. When I met
In these weird times you can be worked to exhaustion in the caring professions or struck down by Covid Ennui. It’s a delight to be have something to celebrate. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=424339392053143 Trevor Cowlett was one of the first three people to
Today , BBC4 Saturday Live asked listeners to share their stories of leaps in the dark. It started with Ian Rankin describing how he and his wife gave up well paid jobs to renovate an old house in rural France
https://www.guernicamag.com/shamsie_02_01_2012/? I hate stereotypes and dislike of them is I believe the motivation for the sad ‘appropriation ‘saga. The wonderful Kamila Shamsi rightly wonders in this link - why there should be obstacles to telling peoples stories. For 18
Did you listen and watch the first Reith lecture by Mark Carney? The topic was ‘From moral to market sentiments’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0900t1x/the-reith-lectures-2020-mark-carney-how-we-get-what-we-value-lecture-1-from-moral-to-market-sentiments? It came as a surprise when in answer to a question by Anita Anand, he said he had taken