My new novel, The Anarchy, is published next week by Impress Books. It is the final book in the Conquest trilogy, focused on the life of Nest ferch Rhys and the 12th century struggle between the Welsh and the Normans. In the novel I (anachronistically) use a poem by the Welsh bard Dafydd ap Gwilym: Yr wylan deg ar lanw,…
New newsletter published
New newsletter just published. Contents include news on my next historical novel, The Anarchy, which will be published by Impress Books in June; a radio interview with me on Soundart Radio; a book reviewing competition; my work in progress on a biography of three medieval sisters; and residencies and workshops I’ve undertaken in the last…
Down the research rabbit hole
I’m working on a biography of three 11th century sisters and, at this stage of the research, every thread to pursue involves disappearing down a rabbit hole for a very long time, trying to get answers. The critical thing is to record everything in the research process, including more threads and queries to pursue, so that,…
Text is material
‘For all writing, you need to be nosy.’ ‘To me, text is material in the same way as stone or paint are.’ ‘A pen is like a prosthetic for me. It’s like a visual artist needing a sketchpad always to hand, or a sound artist needing to record on their phone.’ ‘The first thing with…
Water Love
My post Water Love is just published on meanda.net. It outlines my future fiction and books on water art and writing workshops for adults and children. Also if you are drying out, unable to swim in these lockdown times, check out the links to octopus art, pool art, underwater soundart and the Outdoor Swimming Society’s…
Female Lords
The eleventh-century countess of Barcelona, Almodis de La Marche, was accused by the monk historian, William of Malmesbury, of being driven by ‘a furious and godless female itch’, which immediately struck me as a good reason to write her biography. I’m working on that biography now and have expanded it to incorporate the lives of…
Virtually Dartington
The Dartington Estate (where I live and work and am currently in lockdown) has had to temporarily close due to the pandemic, but Virtually Dartington is open and offering you Will Kemp writing on Merce Cunningham at Dartington; free arthouse films via Mubi, courtesy of The Barn Cinema; footage from the Schumacher College and Dartington…
Impressive Books
My publisher, Impress Books, has changed hands. Immense thanks to Richard Willis who founded Impress Books and launched my career as a published historical fiction novelist. And hello, Jeff Collyer, who has taken over and has lots of exciting plans in the pipeline for the Impress Books list. Thank you, too, to my fellow Impress…
Summer Workshop, Girona, Spain
26–31 July 2020 Mas Carbó, Sant Hilari de Sacalm, Girona, Spain A five-day workshop exploring the concept of Wu Wei through Tai Chi, improvisation and writing led by Tew Bunnag, Denys Blacker, and Tracey Warr. Wu Wei is the sense of letting go, of letting yourself be spacious so that the universe can come in….
The Water Age at the seaside
Thank you to a reader for this shot of my future fiction stories, The Water Age, being read in Cornwall, and for the comment that it is an ‘intriguing, sensual and sad book, reflecting with such careful insight on the nature of water and our nature as watery beings’. The book is a collection of short stories…
