Test of stamina at Bim Literary Festival, day two
Wow. That was intense. Three hours on a hard bench listening to poetry readings with no break and no refreshments. That’s a real test.…
Earl Lovelace at Bim Literary Festival
Trinidadian writer Earl Lovelace was the second attraction last night at Bim Literary Festival. For my report on the first part of…
Austin Clarke at Bim Literary Festival
After my unintended gatecrashing of a class with Derek Walcott earlier in the day, this was an event I was actually allowed…
Learning from Derek Walcott: Bim Literary Festival, day one
How often do you get to meet a Nobel Prize winner? That was my main rationale for going along to a Master…
Great opportunity for unpublished UK writers
If you are an unpublished UK writer with a novel manuscript ready for submission, I’d strongly recommend that you check out the…
How to write a book review
Just saw a nice post on Read.Learn.Write which goes into the methodology of writing book reviews, using my novel On the Holloway Road as a model. I’ve never…
How writers generate ideas
One of the most common questions I'm asked whenever I give a talk is "How do you generate ideas?" The honest answer…
The Sense of an Ending, explained
A quick explanation of the ending of Julian Barnes's novel The Sense of an Ending—followed by a long discussion in the comments…
How much would you pay for a short story?
Quick question for you. I’m thinking of making some of my short stories available for download from this site, but am not…