Yesterday, in Ely Cathedral, I took this photograph. In the exquisite Lady Chapel, all the heads had been knocked off the sculptures in the niches. I visited the Fragrant Buddha Temple in the Summer Palace in Beijing with the
Politics, Lives, Page Turners: The Courage of Claret Press publishing Sylvia Vetta and Pen Farthing I love my publishers new book mark. It sums up what Claret Press is about. Her latest author is Pen Farthing and his book
https://madrascourier.com/opinion/writing-the-womans-life The online Indian newspaper, The Madras Courier has published an essay by Lupamudra Banerjee. It is a powerful and deeply personal invocation of women writers who wanted to break the chains. The timing of this feature is inspired by
Shepherd.com has only been established for three years but is already getting good traffic. I'm one of 9,000 authors who have shared five of our favorite books around a topic dear to our hearts. Below are the links to my entries.
https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2024/17/the-invention-of I agree with Misha Glenny. It’s important. We need to know about the history of China. That was why I spent 6 years researching the Beijing Spring of 1979, the Stars Art Movement, the birth of the Democracy Movement
In February, Chris Patten announced that he will retire as Chancellor of Oxford University. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-02-05-lord-patten-barnes-announces-his-retirement-chancellor-university-oxford So the Chancellor’s event last night was an interview with him. https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2024/march-18/chancellors-lecture-from-china-to-the-middle-east-and-ukraine-a-world-in-turmoil I was moved for many reasons by last night's interview. He was
Making Sense by Ai Weiwei. It’s in its final weeks @ the Design Museum in London so do go if you can. I went to see it with a dear friend. Simonetta Agnello Hornby and I met as young mothers.
A small group of us walk in nature together and write poetry inspired by what we see. My artist friend and author of, Nature Unlocked, Diana Bell, took us to Dry Sandford last week. The previous day, a public
Yesterday I attended the Pharos lecture at the Sheldonian theatre. (Lord) Jonathan Sumption talked on the subject ‘The New Roundheads: Politics and the Misuse of History.’ At the end of his eloquent address, I knew that the label ‘roundhead’ applies
So many brave young people are fighting for their liberty at the moment, in Ukraine, in Iran and now in China. There was a time of protest with a real possibility of hope that occurred in China in 1979. The