When I was researching for Brushstrokes in Time which is set in the USA and China, I attended a year’s course in Chinese philosophy. I was attracted by the words of Lao Tzu, the founder of Daoism. In 2026, these
...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://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.
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
(See the programme at the bottom of the blog) I’m one if the organisers of the Oxford Indie Book Fair. Our fairs are in Oxford in the University Examinations Halls and, on July 13, as the last event of the
I've drafted this to pitch for a translation into French . Even I'm impressed. Is this really my novel? I have the Stars Artists to thank . This novel is about them. Not only are they incredibly talented but they
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NvrzUnGE50 I had sad news today. An old colleague at the Oxford Tines, Helen Peacock, has died. Helen was the food writer for the paper for 25 years. I had to cast her away! She was born in Eynsham and
They marched under this banner - 'In Politics we want Democracy and in Art Freedom' 1989 ? NO
In todays i Yasmin Alibhai Brown writes about British Citizens of Pakistani ancestry and how they regard the grooming gangs. The conclusion was that most people of that background despise them and are distressed by the suffering of the exploited
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