The disgraceful scenes in Bulgaria gives this recent email of mine to BBC Radio4 Feedback relevance. ‘My husband is not white and we married when that was unusual. In the seventies I wrote to Hugh Weldon and the Director General saying that black,
Tuesday October 1 is China’s National Day it marks the seventieth anniversary of the Chinese Revolution. It is also the 40th anniversary of the day the Stars Artists marched to Tiananmen Square under a banner saying ‘In Politics we want
I spent a delightful Saturday revisiting Chiang Yee -the charming artist who was ‘The Silent Traveller in Oxford etc. I first encountered his books when I ran the Jam Factory (1987-1998) and I loved them. After a symposium at the
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-48476879/tiananmen-s-tank-man-the-image-that-china-forgot In China it is dangerous to mourn the students who died in the Tiananmen Square 30 years ago today. Even more citizens of Beijing died trying to stop the tanks reaching the square. My novel ‘Brushstrokes in Time’ could
As I looked through Tower of the Winds I became rather emotional. The surprise began at the launch in St Lukes in the ROQ . An impressive roll over of images on a huge screen was the backdrop to the
Memories.. a video Part 1 by the Meridian Society. Meeting Qu Leilei https://www.facebook.com/TheMeridianSociety/videos/1141067562675489/ Parts 2 and 3 https://www.facebook.com/TheMeridianSociety/videos/1141567299292182/ https://www.facebook.com/TheMeridianSociety/videos/1147685558680356/
This is one of my favourite reviews of Brushstrokes in Time. I am fortunate that whoever reads my novel(including those named above)are impressed by its authenticity.They say they feel transported to the time and place when the courageous Stars artists
I couldn’t have written Brushstrokes in Time without the background detail of the years 1965-1980 provided by the artist Qu Leilei. The artist's father, Qu Bo, was the most famous novelist of his time. Tracks in the Snowy Forest was
During the 15 years I reviewed exhibitions for The Oxford Times – when I was proud to write for it - the show that moved me the most was Qu Leilei's ‘Everyone’s Life is an Epic.’ Meeting him and hearing
Do you know how it feels to read thoughts that echo your own? I’ve just read Kwame Anthony Appiah’s The Lies that Bind. My second novel Sculpting the Elephant explores identity and crossing cultures. In Oxford we have the world’s