My Literary Bucket List – A Snapshot
Since 2010 I’ve been compiling a list of all the books I want to read before I die. This wasn’t a sudden impulse triggered by a traumatic event, if anything…
Turgid & Tortuous – The Worst Book I Ever Read and Why.
When I was asked to write a short piece on the worst book I’ve ever read, and why I thought it was so awful, it didn’t take me long to…
So You Want to Be a Writer – A Few Thoughts on Writing
I've just finished another stint as a judge on a national/international Literature Competition, something I’ve been extremely happy to be part of for a number of years now. During that…
Do Readers Judge Your Book by Its Cover?
Short answer, yes. I know that’s the last thing an author wants to hear, since the story is what matters. You’re right, the story does matter. But I want to…
Health on My Shelf
Do you know why your body can sometimes feel run down? Why some people have stronger immune systems than others, or the impact certain foods have on genetic markers? There…
Politics, Class, Talking Truth to Power – Do Novels or Plays Work Best?
In October 1980 the National Theatre, one of Britain’s premier arts venues, raised the curtain on a play that provoked a tsunami of moral outrage. The Romans in Britain, by…
Podcast with Jonny Nelson
Journalist, broadcaster and TV personality Jonny Nelson reveals why he's more likely to read a book once it has been adapted into a film and how one day he'd like…
Stay Out of Our Business! Why Men Should Never Write About Women.
In 1992 the US author and relationship counsellor John Gray wrote the best-selling book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. It magnified the questions around what has been an ongoing…
Podcast with Lucy Skoulding
Hear author and Read2Write reviewer Lucy Skoulding explain why she believes the literary canon is in need of an urgent overhaul and why Sally Rooney’s Ordinary People is among her…
Writing in a War Zone
When I told a friend that I was going to Iraq to read my poetry at an Arts Festival in Babylon, they said surely poetry wasn’t relevant there given the…