The joy of the Oxford Indie Book Fair: inclusion, creativity, connection, fun & thought. The Lord High Sheriff gets it and describes it as ‘uplifting.’ https://highsheriffofoxfordshire.co.uk/a-morning-among-oxfords-storytellers Oxib is run by a volunteer committee, and you can see from the faces
...and my life in one picture thanks to the artist Diana Bell. Last week I was interviewed for Oxford Lives by Jeremy Allen and Graeme Fry produced this podcast from the interview. https://oxfordlives.libsyn.com/oxford-lives-episode-69-with-sylvia-vetta For ten years, I wrote the life
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4430842.run-bagley-wood/? Reptiles, my latest novel starts with Toad Patrol in Bagley Woods. In this pic, I’m wear my high viz jacket but the month wasn’t appropriate, the amphibians move at the end of February and in March. This
ONLY CONNECT There is a glimmer of hope with the ceasefire in Gaza although given, Netanyahu unilaterally ending the last one, the world can’t trust him. Trust is so important and it comes through connecting with mutual respect and showing,
https://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/25522672.kennington-twin-village-africa-weekend/ I am proud of my village. On Saturday there will be plenty of red, white and blue bunting mixed with Kenyan red, green and black. Flags for what they are meant to be used for, celebration and hope
https://howtoacademy.com/events/ai-weiwei-on-censorship/ Ai Weiwei began his career with the Stars artists (Beijing 1979 ) In the UK, we don’t expect an art exhibition to be closed by the police but that is what happened to the Stars unofficial exhibition in Beijing.
Screenshot by Zoe Broughton Tonight is the iconic Last Night of the Proms. Wouldn’t it be great if, instead of Rule Britannia, they sang for the people of Gaza. The composer Malcolm Atkins and I have kicked
https://madrascourier.com/opinion/the-manospheres-poisonous-influence-how-digital-hate-transforms-young-mens-identities/ As the Madras Courier publishes my feature on the manosphere, copies of my latest book Reptiles arrive! My novel opens with Toad Patrol, an annual rescue of amphibians as they cross the Old Abingdon Road. Many from my village
Meeting Giorgio! https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/italian-fashion-designer-giorgio-armani-dies-91-2025-09-04/ Today the death was announced of Giorgio Armani. What’s my connection with the fashion designer? My journey to becoming a novelist began when I took up freelance writing for magazines mostly about art, antiques and books. The
Sculpting the Elephant is part located in Oxford where I live, especially in the former industrial and working class areas of Jericho and St Thomas's but is set when Jericho was gentrifying and the Oxford Rock scene had started to