The Lives of Predators: H is for Hawk
27th, Feb 2015Of all animals, the lives of predators are perhaps the most difficult for us to imagine. I was reminded of this recently, when I interviewed the acclaimed writer Helen MacDonald for the UE
Blog
Winter Garden - an exhibition
30th, Jan 2015‘Winter Garden’ is the title of an exhibition curated by Lucy Reynolds for Flat Time House, a South London gallery, and for which I’ve been commissioned to write and read a story.
The Wave - the Indian ocean tsunami ten years on
26th, Dec 2014The daily retreat and advance of the tides is an inescapable part of life on any coast. I have always had a fascination for tides, in part from having grown up in Nova Scotia, whose Bay of Fundy is the scene of the highest tides in the world.
‘Wordsight’ – WG Sebald and the image as text
24th, Nov 2014We have become used to illustrating our lives. If we want to buy a new digital camera, we take a photo of it in the shop with our smartphone and send it to our friend the digital camera whizz to advise.
In a Vulnerable Place: Climate change and urban mobilities
26th, Oct 2014‘Prepare for the unavoidable, avoid the unmanageable’.
The Expatriate Novel in Africa
21st, Sep 2014Does ‘the African expatriate novel’ exist? Living and working in Africa – as well as reading and writing there – has led me to reflect on novels which share this basic premise.
The Edge of Extinction - a Sokoke Scops-Owl safari
15th, Aug 2014Sokoke Scops-Owl pair by Andrew McNaughton
We walk single file in silence, threading our way through the wispy trees that line the perimeter of the forest, David, our guide, leading the way. He comes to a sudden halt in a small clearing and looks at us expectantly.
Them and Us: animal consciousness in fiction
09th, Jul 2014What can we know about the lives of animals? Not much, it seems, although we are trying – to parse the diction in the high-frequency calls of Orcas, to decode the complex physical language of Bonobos.
First make them laugh
13th, Jun 2014How to be funny, as writers - or funnier, at least? This was a surprise topic of discussion on a recent week-long residential fiction writing course I co-tutored at Ty Newydd, the National Writers' Centre of Wales.
Everything is happening now – the present tense in fiction
16th, May 2014I have always had trouble fully locating the present moment. This is worrying, given that we are supposed to live in the present. If the present moment is our only home but I can’t grasp it, then what’s left to inhabit – a continual reminiscence or an anticipation of the future?