OK. You know those lists that have all the books you should have read? The ones, in my case, that I feel quite smug about To Kill A Mockingbird and Brave New World, but pretty inadequate about almost everything else. Those. My powers of bluster and google had in the most part got me through. […]
Short story: Two letters that cross in the post
Something I wrote – Talking like a teenager
Here’s another writing exercise, you might like. It came from the week we looked at The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan. I’m fairly sure proper literary types are supposed to study the book and its inhabitants from a dispassionate point of view. However, I just loved Anais, the tragic kid at the heart of the story. […]
Metrophobia on National Poetry Day
Metrophobia. Fear of poetry. In the first few classes, I thought it was one of those set-piece jokes like teachers repairing the fabric of the school with leftover dining hall dinners. But then I realised they were serious. Creative writers with a fear of poetry. Who knew? I don’t understand enough about it to be […]
Middle-aged couple in marriage crisis
Brad and Angie have split up. Who saw that coming? I’m so sad for the kids. How would you let someone like him go? If they can’t make it – with cheekbones like theirs – what chance have us porridge-faced mortals got? Alternatively, a middle-aged woman like her who seeks divorce and custody of their […]