Category Archives: Writing

Love-hate (part 2)

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

What I love about Scotland is its solemn hills     What I hate about Scotland is the mist that shrouds them What I love about Scotland its empty moors     What I hate about Scotland is the rain that scours them What … Continue reading →

More Galleries | 8 Comments

Love-hate (part 1)

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

There has been much talk of independence on the Dark Angels course this week. Location has a lot to do with it. Our venue, Moniack Mhor, the Arvon Foundation writers’ centre, is perched on a hilltop just above Loch Ness with … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tales of passion

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

On the second night of our recent Dark Angels advanced course in Spain, once they had all settled in, we decided to ask the eight students to take just a couple of minutes after dinner to say why they had … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged | Leave a comment

Spell-binding

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

Extraordinary things happen on Dark Angels courses. That is because the people who come on them are extraordinary. In truth, everyone is extraordinary if only given the chance to be him or herself. And that is perhaps the most unfathomable … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The heart of things

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

Last month I was lucky enough to appear at two book festivals. One of them, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, is indisputably the world’s largest and this year was its best year ever, with a record 225,000 visits to Charlotte … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Strange fruit

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

Tomorrow I leave for France for 10 days. This is a holiday that feels like it’s been a long time coming. The year so far has been one of hard domestic slog, clearing out my mother’s house in Kent and … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Connection men

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

In Russell Hoban’s extraordinary post-nuclear novel Riddley Walker, there are characters known as ‘connection men’, storytellers whose job it is to try and piece things together, reinforce the codes that bind their small communities, and at the same time make … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Reading matters

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

A circular from the Society of Authors dropped into my inbox yesterday morning. Although the theme was not a new one, I stopped and read it carefully. The Society of Authors is the unaffiliated trade union that represents around 9,000 … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Hurley burley

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

The hurlymans are still with me (see Day of the Door). I’m on my way back from Cornwall where I have just spent four days in a house overlooking an entirely deserted sweep of beach with no other human habitation … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Train of thought

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

While waiting for the train this morning I was speaking to a recently retired neighbour who now lives most of the year on the Greek island of Skiathos. ‘They’re really in a bind now,’ he said. ‘I know,’ I said. … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , | Leave a comment