writing – nature – supernature
As we watched COVID-19 spread across the globe, few anticipated the impact the pandemic would have on the book world. This blog casts its eye over the good and the bad of the literary lockdown, and at how we have learnt to do things differently. Literary Festivals While many literary events cancelled completely, some notable […]
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In no particular order: Gingerbread by Helen Oyayemi. A dazzling mix of folklore, pop culture, allusions, absurdism and wit. It is Hansel & Gretel, and then some. My Review. The Ice House by Tim Clare. A rip-roaring speculative adventure with the female hero I wanted to read before she was ever written. My review. Bitter […]
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Zeus, father of the gods, transformed his love, Io, into a cow for fear of discovery by wife, Hera. She, knowing her husband well, saw through his ruse and begged Zeus for the cow, exclaiming how beautiful it was. Hera bade Argus of the hundred eyes to watch over the cow. Desperate, Zeus sent Hermes […]
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Ginkgo biloba, Corsham Court, Wiltshire Nature writing, that is, non-fiction or fiction prose or poetry about or inspired by nature, is no new thing. Indeed, as far back as Hippocrates (490-370 BC) people were writing about nature. But latterly, it has experienced a resurgence. The meaning of the term ‘nature writing’ has shifted such […]
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All living organisms interpret (make meaning of) and represent (communicate) their world through a series of signs and codes. A plant may sense a change in daylight hours (photoperiodicity) as a sign which it encodes as a prompt to initiate flower-bud formation, just as a human might sense the sign of hot weather and encode […]
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As a creative writer, I love the use of language and enjoy receiving feedback to suggest my writing has ignited an emotional response. Sometimes, the story may only allow for a brief character sketch, but the reader reports to having in mind a very strong and well-defined picture of that character. I wonder, then, about […]
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My writing is influenced by mythology; the tales we tell ourselves, why we create myths, how we respond to the myths we hear. Interests Trees, plant diversity, human-plant interaction, climate change, the environment, mythology, linguistics, writer-reader interaction. I love to read Fiction (short and long): magic realism, myth, folklore, weird fiction, metafiction, off-kilter realities, genre-bending, […]
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