The Hay Festival programme is out. Details arrived by email on Saturday, which is fortunate as the next letter of the A-Z writing challenge is H. The Hay Literature Festival is more than a book event. It is two weeks of stimulation and reflective entertainment. This year the dates are 26 May to 5 June We…
I wonder if anyone else is getting that urge? That urge to sow seeds? Some of us who love pottering and growing fruit and vegetables are just about to see the pay off of scanning seed catalogues and poking soil. Does anyone else go round in circles with an inner dialogue, at this time of…
Snape Maltings, in west Suffolk, is the home of Aldeburgh Music, which is renowned as an outstanding year-round performance centre. On Friday evening, the Flipside Literature and Music Festival opened with “The boys from Ipanema”, by paying tribute to the composer and essayist Vincius de Moraes and the musician Antonio Carlos Jobin. They “boys” (actually…
Since the early part of the 20th Century there has been a day when people have come together to celebrate and mark the changes that have occurred in women’s lives. International Women’s Day (IWD) emerged from the activities of labour movements in North America and across Europe. By 1975, during International Women’s Year, the United…
Chris Keil and Jenny Grainer came to Tavira to read in the not to be missed bookshop A Lura dos Livros. Both writers have a passion for their work. Jenny writes regularly for the Algarve Resident and has written for the Portugal News. Her latest article about the recent tornado and the aftermath is…
Two writers will be reading at A Lura dos Livros at 7:30pm, on Monday 3rd December 2012. I have already publicised Chris Keil, in a previous post. Chris will be reading from his third novel “Flirting at the Funeral”. The second writer is Jenny Grainer, who will be reading from her book “Portugal and the…
Chris Keil is coming to Tavira in December! He has kindly agreed to do a reading at Lura dos Livros on Monday 3rd December. He is also going to run a writing workshop on Tuesday 4th December 10am -1pm The workshop will cover, how he writes, how to write narrative, dialogue and much much more, also lots of tips and ideas!! After the workshop…
As I write this, it is raining in Paraty. It is still beautiful, but its cold. The weather also occupied the mind of one of the writers I saw on day 5. Hanif Kureishi, (English mother, Pakistani father), grew up in Britain in the 1970’s. He said he “started writing to stop going mad”. He…
The day started with a press conference with Ian McEwan. He was his gentle mediative self and shared his love of Brazil. He first came to Brazil with his son in 2004 and his son said at the time Paraty had been the best 15 hours in Ian`s diary. His son, Gregory met a girl…
On Day 3, I attended a mix bag of sessions. The first session celebrated the poems of Drummond. In the next session Stephen Greenblatt and James Shapiro, shared their love of Shakespeare. Later in the day, Granta provided the space for two British writers to reflect on what being British means. Two Middle Eastern writers…
