,

Write to Travel

In my previous blog, I penned a few thoughts around the curbing of my incessant travel habit. As I was writing it, I considered a poetry competition I entered last year with Trip Fiction (a brilliant online resource pairing books with travel).…

This is not an easy blog post to write

✰ Caveat - Before anyone reads a word of this, the following blog is not intended to make anybody feel guilty. Guilt is such a counter-productive, ungenerous emotion. It leaves no space for change, for reflection, for openness. Everybody…

Writing a Poem a Week for a Year

Published by Nine Arches Press and edited by Jo Bell and guest poets, this wonderful book is a year of poetry-writing prompts. I can't quite remember when it first came on to my radar - possibly through a podcast. But I am now up to…
,

A Year Of Reading Outside My Ethnicity - Results + Reflections

Towards the end of 2020, I decided to spend the following year reading outside my ethnic group. If you'd like to see my original blog post and the intention I set, click here. The vast majority of books published globally are written by authors…
, ,

An Icelandic Flood of Books

It was only a couple of years ago that I first heard about Iceland's Christmas tradition of Jólabókaflóð, roughly translated to 'Christmas Book Flood.' On Christmas Eve each year, Icelanders cosy up in front of the fire, drink…
,

May I touch your hair?

I recently read a book by Aja Barber called Consumed which caused me to take a long, hard look at the clothes I wear, their provenance, and how the clothing industry is helping to fuel the climate crisis. I've really never been into fashion…

July - September reading Authors of Colour

Looking back at my reads from April - June, it appears I read a whole lot more then than the July - September months. I'm not entirely sure why; I would have thought I'd had more time for reading over the summer holidays. Perhaps it was because…

Recording of my poem, Tripoli Dreaming

As I mentioned recently, I won first prize in Trip Fiction's Voyages by Verse poetry competition. I decided to record myself reading it, so have a listen below. bexstonehill · Tripoli Dreaming

Guest Blog with a 93 year old Dancing Doctor - A Long and Fascinating Life

I'm delighted to welcome on to my blog today Dr Christopher Hopkins, my step-great-uncle (less complicated than it sounds!). He may be turning 94 this year, but Christopher is probably the most energetic person to feature on my blog: he is…

First prize in Voyages by Verse Poetry Competition

I am over the moon to have won first place in Trip Fiction's Voyages by Verse poetry competition. It is only more recently that I have been spending more time with poetry - both reading and writing it - and I feel really honoured to win this…