Today is the start of Independent Bookshop Week in the UK and Ireland. Browsing for books in a shop is a whole different experience to searching online. Browsing can reveal unexpected and wildly treasured finds. One of the things I love about Independent Bookshops is that they are run by people who are as crazed…
Category: Books
Browsing for Books
Over ten years ago, I stumbled across Meg Bogin’s book, The Female Troubadours, in the library of University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s where I was studying for an MA in Creative Writing. I was working on my first novel at the time, based on the real woman, Almodis de La Marche, the countess of…
Idiosyncratic Bookshops and Lovely Libraries
My bookshelf (above) has been published today on Shepherd.com, which is creating new and unique ways for readers to find amazing books. In this bookshelf post I write about the serendipity and synergy in what can be found through browsing (as opposed to purposeful searching). Idiosyncratic bookshops and lovely libraries bring unexpected twists to my…
Spring is sprung
Spring is arriving at last in southern France where I am copyediting my novel, The Viking Hostage. I was delighted to revisit this quotation from Freda White’s Three Rivers of France: ‘the spring in Aquitaine comes flying from the west in a swirl of flowers, with summer hard on its heels, pursuing it by the…
Happy Welsh Lover’s Day
January 25th is Welsh Lover’s Day, celebrating Saint Dwynwen, a 5th century princess who was thwarted in love. Dwynwen had 23 sisters. She fell in love with Maelon Dafodrill but her father, King Brychan, would not allow her to marry him. Dwynwen fled to the woods, and Maelon was turned into a block of ice….
Surviving Vikings, rodents, and war
In my most recent lecture for MA Poetics of Imagination at Dartington Arts School, I considered the production of medieval books. I hope some of the students are now busy making their own writing surfaces, inks and pigments. To survive into the 21st century these medieval books had to run the gauntlet of flood, fire, war,…
Of things I’d rather keep in silence I must sing
I’m currently preparing a teaching session for MA Poetics of Imagination at Dartington Arts School on the troubadours and trobairitz, which put me in mind of a wonderful writing residency I had a few years ago in the beautiful medieval village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie in France. In 2016, I collaborated with artist Tania Candiani on an…
Publication Day! The Water Age
My new books The Water Age 1, 2, 3 are published today by Meanda Books. The Water Age & Other Fictions is a collection of short future fictions. ‘Meanda’ takes place on an ocean exoplanet. ‘AsbrĂºâ€™ tangles in the fronds of Icelandic algae. Other stories explore slime technologies. These fictions are spawned by aquatic flora and fauna, such…
The Water Age – 3 new books
Coming soon: Octavio Paz meets J.G. Ballard meets David Attenborough in these suspenseful, lyrical tales of hybrid species and aqua technologies. ‘Meanda’ takes place on an ocean exoplanet. ‘AsbrĂºâ€™Â tangles in the fronds of Icelandic algae. Other stories explore slime technologies. These fictions are spawned by aquatic flora and fauna, such as spitting fish, inking squids and…
The Water Age – 3 new books for 2018
I have established a publishing imprint called Meanda Books to publish the three small books that are the outcome of my work in the Frontiers in Retreat art and ecology project. The books will be published in July. An expression of interest form is at the bottom of this post. The books are: …
