It’s commonly mentioned by writers as a problem: keeping focus on the book you’re currently writing. It isn’t just the intrusion of other writing or everyday chores. More than ever, writers blame the ingress of social media caused by two pressures: firstly the attraction of seeing friends’ and family’s daily activities,[…]
Read More »REVIEW OF THE DRONE EATS WITH ME Diaries from a city under fire Atef-Abu Saif Comma Press publishes new writing and has championed the short story. Most excitingly, it has brought translated works to the wider world. With well-chosen and diverse titles, it gives insight into lives from little known[…]
Read More »Some writers complain of writers’ block. Perhaps they are due for pollination from other sources. I’ve written before about how cross-fertilization within the arts is something to seek out and to treasure. A writer, performing artist, teacher, does him/herself no good by constantly giving out and never feeding the self.[…]
Read More »Where do your words come from? Here’s the tree showing the main roots. When you eventually find the little twig that is English, it’s the sort of twig size that might be chopped off by the gardener to encourage strength in more viable branches. So English is quite a[…]
Read More »In Bulgaria, the short story is not a lesser literary form as it is in the UK. Quite the reverse, it is highly valued. There are some fine Bulgarian writers of short stories and this post concerns just one. Miroslav Penkov‘s short story collection, East of the West, is the most[…]
Read More »FILM REVIEW Last night I saw a French Canadian film, Monsieur Lazhar. It was one of those films that immerse you completely in the watching, and fails to leave you for many hours, perhaps days afterwards. Lazhar is an Algerian who sidles into an unexpectedly vacant teacher’s job. The Head[…]
Read More »We don’t see enough of Latin American writers in the UK. I am glad to review this literary novel by Jorge Volpi (Mexico) published by Swan Isle Press and seamlessly translated by Olivia Maciel. When you know a novel has suicide as a central focus, you wait to find the[…]
Read More »Today’s post is a review I wrote for ShortStops, a literary online site that celebrates the short story. The Grind is an online journal showcasing creative work from across Scotland had its first issue recently. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this as can be seen from the following: THE GRIND –[…]
Read More »Are you starting to write a novel? Yes, it’s hard. Really, it’s best just to press on with it rather than tell people about it. There will be time for that when you’re finished. Here are 10 points to consider. You can waste so much time in the[…]
Read More »Chinese short stories: Shi Cheng -Short Stories from Urban China– edited by Liu Ding, Yinghua Lu and Ra Page. It was purely coincidental that just as I finished reading the last story in this collection, the government announced a relaxation of visa restrictions to Chinese nationals with the rejoinder that British[…]
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