If you believe some blogs, the cat was first killed at the turn of the 20th century. Wikipedia claims that the saying first appeared in print in 1873 but a brief search of the British Newspaper Archive reveals it was in common usage in Ireland well before that.So what does that prove? Not a lot.… Continue reading Curiosity killed the cat
National Writing Day 2018
27 June 2018 is National Writing Day. Thanks to Creative Royston, I am delighted to be leading workshops over two consecutive mornings on 26 & 27 June with students from Greneway and Roysia Schools. We’ll be exploring non-fiction writing in the run up to Creative Royston’s writing competition.
Facing Rob Roy
Exhibition Thursday 13 September – Saturday 6 October 2018 10am-4:45pm Royston and District Museum FREE Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the publication of Walter Scott’s novel Rob Roy, this one-off pop-up exhibition explores the changing faces of Scotland’s ‘Robin Hood’. From Macready to Liam Neeson, from Barcelona to Broadway. Vintage playbills, cinema lobby cards, illustrations… Continue reading Facing Rob Roy
Finding your voice
It is said that every poet should find their own voice. But perhaps not every poet should use it – or not in public, at least. Reading your work in to an audience is not the same thing as reading it at home. No matter how good the words are, someone needs to breathe life… Continue reading Finding your voice
The challenge of writing history
When you treat history creatively, how do you ensure you aren’t faking it? This is one of the things I was asked to discuss for the ‘Doing History in Public’ blog: A Cracked Voice.
Riddles
Bilbo Baggins bets his life on a riddle in The Hobbit. Fortunately, for the story he doesn’t lose (or else the dwarves would never have kept their appointment with Smaug!). That riddling competition takes place in a dank deserted cave under the Misty Mountains – all very lonely and sinister – but riddles are mostly… Continue reading Riddles
Welcome
As Mark Twain wrote, ‘Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.’ I’m keeping on crossing out.