I’m promoting the three books I’ve published this year The Love and Wisdom Crimes is a novel based on real experiences. In it Jane returns to South Africa as apartheid ends to unlock the secrets of her past as a young political activist in a police state. My collection of poetry, The Spiral-bound Notebooks contains my early poems that form […]
Going back to books – it’s that time of year
The great winter return to books, to reading, and to writing Autumn can be a sad time. The warm sunny days are over, the evenings are closing in and another year has gone – but – I can at last hide myself away. I can write all morning, read all afternoon and spend the evenings immersed in TV dramas. Indulgence […]
The colonisation of the spirit
Forceful ideas There are occasions when something is said or written that strikes you with real force. A discussion between Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy over African artefacts in European museums did just that for me. It’s a topical subject right now. Emmanuel Macron is talking of the repatriation of African artworks to their homes in Africa. Way back in […]
Tall stories, true stories, lies, fiction, facts and truth-telling
Writing fictions, memoirs and versions of my truth In the last few months I have published three books. The first is a novel, the second is a book of poetry, the inspiration on which the novel is based and the third is a memoir. They are – The Love and Wisdom Crimes A coming-of-age adventure story about a young white […]
Words, the power of words and the work of wordsmiths
“For magic consists in this, the true naming of a thing.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea Words and editing I’m engaged in a major rewrite of my children’s book The Drought Witch. It’s an exciting task expanding a children’s picture book into a novel for 9 to13-year-olds but the interesting work is in the editing and […]