Because of the rise in empire nostalgia, knowing the truth about the brutality of empire is important. Our schools don’t teach empire and most Brits know little and what they do know is coloured by ideas of benevolent patriarchy. In
India's lost emperor Ashoka set about governing India by moral force alone! He renounced violence including the death penalty and this was Before Christ ! Ashoka turned Buddhism from a minor sect into a world religion but his name was cleansed
I can’t believe that the young people in this film including my grand-daughter Amber will be at university next month. Polly Biswas Gladwin, Victor Glynn and I organised these filmed workshops of Joe and Zara –Oxford’s own Romeo and Juliet .
The death was announced of Brian Aldiss in this way ‘Author of British Science Fiction classics Non-stop, Hothouse and Greybeard, Aldiss’s writing spanned genres and generations, bridging the gap between classic ‘science fiction’ and contemporary literature with his Helliconia Trilogy…’ When I sent him to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05b5fdg It’s a welcome change for the BBC to focus on the partition of India. For too long the only history we get is the Tudors, WW1 and WW2. Almost ignored are the Industrial Revolution and the Empire which
There was something poignant about receiving the news that sales of the audio book of Brushstrokes in Time (BiT) have been hit by hints of ‘cultural appropriation’ on the same day that Liu Xiaobo died . Liu appears briefly in
Partition voices: British Indians tell the story of the trauma of the partition of India. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08z9p9w For the Madras Courier I tell the story of my Hindu husband’s family’s experience of partition and voice the opinion that the British Government washed
I don’t like watching myself on TV but it was in a good cause. Dominique Cadiou and I were promoting the launch of The Sobell House Come4 Tea fundraising campaign, It will be launched at The Vaults (Radcliffe Square)
I am over the moon with this mind-blowingly wonderful review of Brushstrokes in Time in the Madras Courier and on their website too. The Madras Courier The free on line quality newspaper is reaching almost half million people mostly Indian
I am very fortunate in the support I am getting. The poet Jenny Lewis posted this wonderful review on facebook. The success of the audio book is down to the passion and enterprise of Catherine O’Brien of Essential Audiobooks and