Favourite Books -2021
I read a lot of books, around 75 I think. I kept a tally for a while but lost track along the way. I tend to forget library books [...]
The Book Pile – 2018
Globally and personally 2018 was a difficult year, so I built a wall of books and retreated. Here are some of the books I read, and some that I abandoned. [...]
Peddling my wares
These days I write the word ‘writer’ on forms that ask me what I do. I know I’ve earned it. I am that person – a published novelist. Publication has [...]
A Ministry, a Garden, a God
I read a lot of books. For research mainly, or so I tell others and myself but also for pleasure, for comfort and to know myself better. I read fabulous [...]
Cultural Knowledge
Such a loaded term – cultural knowledge – coming as it does with its own set of expectations and hints of secrets. When I try to unpack it a little, [...]
Books on Shelves
When a friend sent me a photo of my novel on her shelf, my preoccupation with books and how they appear on shelves, inspired me to find pictures of The [...]
The Persian Book Club
One of the unexpected joys of publishing a book is that I am sometimes invited by book clubs to speak about my novel. This can be slightly nerve racking because [...]
Literary Friendships #2
My second pair of guests are Sue Braghieri and Hannah van Didden. I first met them at a writing workshop a few years ago and we have been friends since. [...]
Literary Friendships #1
A little while ago I started thinking of literary friendships between women, and I turned naturally enough, to Professor Google. Despite trying the words in different combinations, the Professor thought [...]
Neglecting the Blog
I have been doing a bit of that lately - neglecting the blog, I mean. I've been immersed in submissions for two journals I'm currently editing (both, as guest editor). [...]
What I’ve been reading
Well, theories of memory, mostly, along with narrative inquiry mixed with a dash of ethnographic self reflexive research. This 'essential' reading has been for the essay I'm writing as part [...]
Finding Jasper by Lynne Leonhardt
Lynne Leonhardt's debut novel takes us to a gentler and a more violent time in our history - a paradox that is managed in this novel with grace and clarity. [...]