News & Happenings

Writing True Stories of Seafolk and the Sea – A conversation with Brian W. Lavery

You live on Hessle Road in Hull, albeit on the posh end. How does it help you as a writer, living in the community you are writing about? Being able to ‘walk’ the setting for my books is invaluable. Even though much has changed in some parts, there are still …

Chris Westoby – Why anxiety, OCD & depression are worth sharing

I’ve had a severe anxiety disorder for my whole life. Growing up, I kept my illness secret, even from my parents. Partly through the shame of the things I thought, the things I was afraid of, my hidden behaviours, but also because it was the 00s and nobody seemed to talk about these …

Paul Harfleet – The Power of Pansies, Birds and Art

Birds feature in the story of Pansy Boy, but they get their own star feature at the end of the book in your hand drawn Field Guide to Birds. Why was it important to include those pages? When the book felt almost complete and was filled with the birds I …

Maggie Hamand on thrillers, a papal mystery, & PhD advice

Would you call Virgin & Child a thriller? I used a lot of techniques deployed by thriller writers to try to grip the reader, and create a sense of mystery and tension. But it’s a novel that works at many levels, so it’s not a straightforward commercial thriller by any …

Living in Lockdown – a Couples’ Guide

James Thornton is CEO of the not-for-profit environmental law firm ClientEarth, as well as being a poet and a Zen Buddhist priest. His new collection Notes from a Mountain Village collects poems drawn from twenty-five years of observing French mountain life. In this new era of working-from-home, James shares lessons he learned …

Interview with Colin W. Sargent on Red Hands

Red Hands is a compelling read. You get pulled in to the story of a young girl’s life, and then find yourself led through the excesses and collapse of a whole Communist State. As the book’s editor, I know that such a vivid read only comes out of a tough …

William Barry, thoughts on Red Hands

Bill Barry, who reviewed The Boston Castrato for The Maine Sunday Telegram, offers this bright review of Colin W. Sargent’s Red Hands, with its whole array of wider reflections.  Taken at face value, Red Hands is a unique insider’s view of the rise and fall of the dystopian regime of Romania’s Nicolae and …