Nine years

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

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 →

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

Being heard

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

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 →

More Galleries | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Great tapestry

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

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 →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Nature deficit disorder

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

Whenever I have a day at home I take exercise, usually in the late afternoon. For many years it was a walk. Then I began to feel that was not enough, so I took up running. Almost immediately I misjudged … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Human and humane

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

I started this blog exactly four years ago, on 18th August 2009. I think it would have surprised me then to know that I would still be going four years later. In that first post I wrote this: ‘I want … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

August elixir

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

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 →

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

Gwynne’s Grammar

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

I hadn’t heard of Nevile Gwynne until this morning. Michael Gove clearly has. Gwynne is a former businessman and self-taught grammarian whose primer has been endorsed by the Education Secretary as one of the books he wishes his civil servants … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Hard-wired for heroes

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

About twice a week I travel to Edinburgh by train. By the time I catch it it’s halfway through its journey from Inverness, which means I can’t always get a forward- facing table. But I’ve become adept at guessing who’s … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Childish thinking

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

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 →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Tales of kindness

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

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 →

More Galleries | Tagged , , | 1 Comment