Rising above Dyslexia: One 13 year old girl's story

Maya Melesi is a thirteen year old girl living in Nairobi, Kenya. At one stage she was part of my after school creative writing club, Magic Pencil, and I was struck by her boundless enthusiasm, creativity and facility with words. Maya…
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Introducing Trusha Ganesh: A young Indian Writer

I am always so happy to meet another writer. Whether it's a seven year old child who is tentatively but excitedly experimenting with the power of storytelling, an older person wanting to get their stories down for posterity or somebody who plays…
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Lucy Paget: Living Bravely and Creatively

It is hard to know how to describe Lucy Paget, so wide-ranging are her skills. Perhaps polymath would be the best word for her: Writer, Osteopath, Business Owner, Yoga teacher, Nutritional Herbalist, Chef...the list goes on. Lucy has helped…
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Use this powerful tool to choose your next holiday read

Travelling and Reading: Two of my favourite things in the world. Imagine my delight, then, when I discovered TripFiction.com, a website devoted to location-based fiction. There are so many of us who, when we go on holiday, would love to delve…
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Tracy Rees: Catching a dream and soaring to Richard & Judy bestseller heights

I am absolutely delighted to welcome historical fiction author Tracy Rees on to my blog today. In 2015, Tracy won Richard and Judy's highly competitive Search for a Bestseller competition with her debut novel, Amy Snow and won hearts…
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Behind the scenes: Bestselling author Louise Jensen & chronic pain

Today I extend a huge welcome to Louise Jensen, bestselling author of psychological thriller, The Sister. Her second novel, The Gift, will be published on 16 December 2016 (It is available now for pre-order). Louise's journey to publication…
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How a dyslexic child turned into a best selling author

I am delighted this week to invite author Sara Alexi onto my blog. Author of The Greek Village series, Sara's journey from child 'misfit' to bestselling author is astonishing, moving and deeply inspiring. What were you like as a child? As…
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Notes from the Calais 'Jungle' - How can WE help?

The 'Jungle' migrant camp in Calais was recorded as being home to well over 10,000 people, a vast patchwork of people from the world over seeking a better life. As we are faced with an escalating number of disturbing images coming out of Syria…
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The 9 year old who read 100 books in a year

This is Lola Sanchez Farmar. She is the nine year old daughter of my great friends, Rebecca and Pablo. I recently discovered that between July 2015 and July 2016 Lola read a whopping 100 Books. I couldn't quite believe my ears. 100? Really?  Lola's…
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Interview with Scott Mullins from This Is Writing

An interview I did with Scott Mullins from This Is Writing is now live! Click here to read it. There were some really interesting questions which I had to think hard about, for example how I would define creativity, and what's my greatest fear…