Swedish angels

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

Something extraordinary happens on Dark Angels courses. People who don’t even think of themselves as writers discover that the simplest of words have a power to connect beyond their wildest imaginings. And the connections they make are not only with … Continue reading →

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On the road

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

In 1967, my last year at school, I discovered that there was a bursary for classicists to travel to Greece. It was one of those things that no one told you about but I got wind of it somehow and … Continue reading →

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Olympic virtues

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

On Radio 4 recently, Clifford Longley, the BBC’s religious affairs correspondent, quoted Bob Diamond’s notorious comment that business culture was ‘how people behave when no one’s watching’. Longley went on to draw the distinction between the self-interest that governs so … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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Catwalk talk

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

Ten days ago I went to my first ever catwalk show. It was my daughter Anna’s finale at Bristol School of Art, Media & Design, where she has been studying fashion design for the last three years. I really wasn’t … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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The Day Of The Door

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

On Monday evening as I walked round the Other Worlds exhibition at Oxford’s Story Museum and marveled at the creativity that had gone into the 25 installations, the thought I kept returning to was the astonishing power of our imaginations … Continue reading →

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