Posts

Interview with Ruth Jenkins, Spoken Word Poet & Textiles Artist

It is wonderful to welcome Ruth Jenkins onto my blog, talented spoken word poet and textiles artist. I first met Ruth a couple of years ago through activism circles. She is now part of my writing group and is rarely to be found without some…

An Interview with Poet Caroline Mellor

It is such an honour to have on the blog today talented poet Caroline Mellor. I became aware of her work through her facebook posts and I must confess, this is a first for me - to buy a book as a direct result of being drawn in by social media…

Interview with young writer Mandisa Mathew

'There is something freeing about being in a world you have complete control over.' It's wonderful to have on the blog today seventeen year old Mandisa Mathew. We knew Mandisa's family when we lived in Nairobi; Mandisa was a friend of…

Shirley Read-Jahn: Life, Writing, Illustrating, Dancing & Parkinson's Disease

Shirley Read-Jahn is an old friend or, more accurately, an old friend of my mother's who I've also come to know and love over the years. If you've read my third novel The Secret Life of Alfred Nightingale, you'll remember that my protagonist…
,

Friday Night Drinks with A Little Book Problem

It was really fun to be interviewed by Julie Morris, book blogger of 'A Little Book Problem'. Like my previous interview with Jill of Jill's Book Cafe, there were some great questions provided by Julie, such as which two famous people I'd invite…

Creative Writing in Prison

Tilda Bowden is a friend from my Nairobi days who was in my writing group over there, The Turaco Tree Writers. In recent years, Tilda has been going into a women's prison to run creative writing and poetry workshops. I invited her onto the…
,

Human Writes: A Guest Blog with disabled writer Ann Young

I am really delighted to welcome on to my blog Poet & Disability Arts Advocate Ann Young. I heard her read one of her poems at the Dead (Women) Poet's Society in Norwich. A couple of working poets shared with the audience two forgotten…

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…
, ,

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…
, ,

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…