Category Archives: Creativity

Inner voices

Ten days ago I gave a talk to 20 Scottish judges as part of a two-day seminar on Judicial Writing and Reasoning. I was the cabaret on the second morning, a one-hour slot sandwiched between the Lord Justice Clerk who … Continue reading

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Indelible INK

We’re sitting in a darkened auditorium in an upmarket conference centre in Cochin. Outside, the sun beats down on the palm-fringed waterway that separates some of us from our hotel bedrooms. This is Kerala and everywhere the backwaters, as they’re … Continue reading

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Nine years

It’s nine years since the very first Dark Angels course took place at the Arvon writers centre at Totleigh Barton in Devon. Even more amazingly, it seems to me, it’s seven since we held our first advanced course on the … Continue reading

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Being heard

I have an abiding memory of being eight or nine years old and being made to hand round canapés at my parents’ drinks parties. It felt like trying to pick my way through a dense forest. My head was probably … Continue reading

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Great tapestry

Serendipity (the nation’s favourite word), has featured more than once in this blog. In the last year I’ve had two notable experiences that could be described as serendipitous: the meeting on a train between my wife and a priest who … Continue reading

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August elixir

I’m writing this at a table outside the author’s yurt in Charlotte Square Gardens. The sun is trying to break through and at the same time it’s spitting with rain. This is Edinburgh in August and the Book Festival is … Continue reading

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Childish thinking

A writer branded ‘unteachable’ as a child, and diagnosed as severely dyslexic aged 12, wins children’s literature’s most prestigious prize, the Carnegie medal. An Indian professor and TED prize-winner proposes an educational system that produces people who can ’think like … Continue reading

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Tales of kindness

A couple of months ago, Sarah, my wife, and I ran a workshop together. It was the first time we’d done this, though we’d talked about it for years. We called it The Stories We Tell. It was a coming … Continue reading

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Mating call

Do these serendipitous moments happen more frequently as one gets older? Or is it simply that one becomes more alert to the possibility of connections as intimations of mortality start to bear in and one seeks a more secure anchorage … Continue reading

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Finding one’s voice

What does it mean to ‘find your voice’? It’s one of the reasons you’re here, we often say to our students on Dark Angels courses – to find your voices as writers. We said it last night, in fact. John … Continue reading

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