Dec 2017 · Blog
Winter writing in the Pyrenees
I’m set to take the dawn train down to our goathouse in a Pyrenean village for a week’s writing retreat. I’m crazy, I’m told, for this seems foolhardy in winter; when I seek a…
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Aug 2017 · Blog
Hanoi and Dien Bhien – scooters & cement
7 million people live in Hanoi and 5 million scooters ferry them about. It’s a city of marvels in many ways but the scooters block that out. Scooter owners, of course, resist possible restrictions…
Read more →Jul 2017 · Blog
Larkin as Vampire
A little card from 1954 sits in a glass case in Hull’s university library, in an exhibition that seeks to contain his life. Philip Larkin had just been interviewed for the librarian’s post.…
Read more →Apr 2017 · Blog
Colm Tóibín HOUSE OF NAMES
Throw out what you thought you knew of the House of Agamemnon & start here. Has Colm Tóibín been reading George R.R. Martin or sat in front of Game of Thrones? That seems as strong…
Read more →Mar 2017 · Blog
When other people’s stories can save the world
I write in various forms. The challenge interests me. Client Earth, out in May, had its challenge set by the McIntosh Foundation of Washington DC. They offered funding to buy me out of some…
Read more →Jan 2017 · Blog
The genius loci – when place generates writing ideas
E.M. Forster was walking in sunshine in the country outside of Rapello. The distant town was bright against a dark blue sea, and a breeze stirred leaves on the slender trees around him. And…
Read more →Sep 2016 · Blog
Killing & Remembering in Clapton
The news bulletin told of a man killed on a Hackney street, among shoppers on a Saturday afternoon. I placed it elsewhere in the borough. My part’s been gentrified: Chatsworth Road has its Sunday…
Read more →Sep 2016 · Blog
Helen Garner: This House of Grief
Years ago an agent tried to convince me to write to write a true-crime book about German cannibals. She felt she could get me a deal. I declined. I didn’t want to dip my…
Read more →Sep 2016 · Blog
The Theresienstadt Family Camp: Auschwitz-Birkenau
Follow the rail tracks inside Auschwitz-Birkenau but don’t go far. Those tracks lead an agonizingly long distance to one of the crematoria, but just to the right of the entrance is a large wasteland,…
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