Choices and consequences: Chasing the King of Hearts by Hanna Krall
This beautiful tale of love and survival in the Holocaust had me hooked from the very first line: She buys shoelaces for a pair of…
Untangling Untangling the Web by Aleks Krotoski
Untangling the Web is a timely and detailed account of how the internet is changing us, and what we can do about…
Reviewer and reviewed
I’ve got a bit behind with my reviewing on this site, but had a book review published today in online literary magazine…
Tyranny and liberation: Birgit Vanderbeke’s The Mussel Feast
There’s a reason why oppressive societies have images of their leader on every wall and statues in every town square. For the…
What’s the book you turn to?
Do you have a particular book that you turn to when you’re feeling lost or confused? Something that you’ve read or dipped…
Generalities are the enemy of good writing
That was quite a general statement, so let me explain. Good writing involves seeing something in a fresh way, and that means seeing it…
Interview with a writer (and his cat): James Higgerson
Check out this short interview I recorded the other day with James Higgerson, Manchester-based author of The Almost Lizard. In the interview, James…
Rutherford Park by Elizabeth Cooke
Do you ever get the feeling that you’re not the target audience for a particular book? The cover of this one set…
The ten rules of writing fiction
There’s an old Guardian article I’ve used a few times when giving talks on the craft of writing. It was called The…