A poem to read in the bath… ‘Woods etc.’ by Alice Oswald #poetry
The first time I read a poem by Alice Oswald I was deep in the countryside; in my imagination. She took me away from the bookshop where I stood in front of the poetry shelf, running my fingers along...
View Article#BookReview ‘Staying Afloat’ by @SueWilsea #shortstories
Staying Afloat, the first anthology of short stories by Hull-based writer Sue Wilsea, has as its sub-text her experience teaching English in schools, colleges, prisons, libraries and community centres...
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A poem to read in the bath… ‘A thousand years, you said’
Written in 8th century Japan, this poem speaks of the longing of love shadowed by impending death, and it is as relevant today as it was then. I discovered this poem in The Picador Book of Funeral...
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Great Opening Paragraph 113… ‘A Good Man in Africa’ #amwriting #FirstPara
“‘Good man,’ said Dalmire, gratefully accepting the gin Morgan Leafy offered him. ‘Oh good man.’ He presents his eager male friendship life a gift, thought Morgan; he’s like a dog who wants me to throw...
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Great Opening Paragraph 114… ‘Agnes Grey’ #amwriting #FirstPara
“All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity, that the dry shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble...
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A poem to read in the bath… ‘May-Day Song for North Oxford’
John Betjeman is an English poet so identified with his times and interests. Born in 1906, his family ran a firm in the East End of London making furniture and household items distinctive to...
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A poem to read in the bath… ‘Serious’ by James Fenton #poetry
I picked up Selected Poems by James Fenton [below] in 2015] in my local library, drawn by the cover illustration; the colours, the corn cobs. I flicked through, and this was the poem that caught my...
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Great Opening Paragraph 122… ‘The Heart’s Invisible Furies’ #amwriting...
‘Long before we discovered that he had fathered two children by two different women, one in Drimoleague and one in Clonakilty, Father James Monroe stood on the altar of the Church of Our Lady, Star of...
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My Porridge & Cream read… Amanda Huggins @troutiemcfish #shortstories
Today I’m delighted to welcome short story writer Amanda Huggins. Her ‘Porridge & Cream’ read is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. “There was strong competition for my Porridge and...
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My Porridge & Cream read… Ian Gouge #books #writerslife
Today I’m delighted to welcome poet and novelist Ian Gouge. His ‘Porridge & Cream’ read is EM Forster’s A Passage to India. “My ‘Porridge & Cream’ novel is perhaps an unfashionable choice: EM...
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