CloudNine

Over at the Women Rule blog there's a very interesting interview with Vanessa Gebbie, author of Short Circuit . Its seems very apparent from the interview that two things seem to really fascinate us as writers. The act of naming (our characters) and procrastination. I could go on forever about the former. Even this morning I awoke thinking of names. Hester Swaine. What a brilliant and powerful name that is. She is the protagonist from Marina Carr's By the Bog of Cats - and a better name for this particular character you could not find. The opening image is of Hester dragging a black swan across the stage. So 'swan' had to be in there somewhere. But here I'm just going to give you some thoughts from genius comedy writer, Graham Linehan, on the subject of procrastination. I am mostly quoting from a Guardian interview from 2008 - which also includes some great tips for comedy writing.  Linehan states: Wasting time is part of the process. For me genius is 1% inspirat...

I am currently reviewing Martin Stannard’s biography of Muriel Spark (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) for a literary publication. I won’t comment on the overall merits of the book until the review is out, but I will say that the woman was a genuine inspiration. Stannard includes a great deal of Spark’s thinking on writing itself – which makes the book a bit of a must for all apprentices of this dark art. Her thoughts on the novel – and on what she would or wouldn’t include – are fascinating. Will return here with details of the review in a few weeks time...

In case any of you are in London next week there is an 'evening for Haiti' on at the Hampstead Theatre January 27th. DETAILS: An Evening for Haiti Hampstead Theatre Wednesday 27 January 7.30pm HAMPSTEAD AND TALAWA TO PRESENT FUNDRAISER FOR HAITI In response to the recent devastating events in Haiti, Hampstead Theatre and Talawa Theatre Company are to hold a benefit in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Writers including Richard Bean, Juliet Gilkes Romero, Joel Horwood, Anders Lustgarten, Abi Morgan, Lynn Nottage, Ed Pilkington, Atiha Sen Gupta, Steve Waters and Roy Williams will create immediate response poems, readings and short plays which will be read on Wednesday 27 January at Hampstead Theatre. Audiences can “pay what they can” for tickets and all proceeds will go to the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Pat Cumper, Artistic Director of Talawa Theatre, will direct. She said: ‘As a company with a strong connection to the Caribbean, Tala...

I'm posting a very interesting feature here from the Sunday Times on Graham Greene's novel The Comedians , the setting of which is Haiti. I spent the weekend reading the history of this fascinating island. The first black republic, Haiti goes by the name given to it by its original native American population and means 'land of mountains'. This island, once depositary for over a million slaves from Africa, saw some of the worst brutality via its colonial masters in all of the Americas.  It has also seen great natural disasters - for which it might have been better equipped had it not, over the years, been stripped of its forests and been the target of so much interference and embargoes. For updates check out the brilliant Haitian DJ, Carel Pedre, on twitter and on Youtube http://twitter.com/CarelPedre Graham Greene’s ‘nightmare republic’ Rising above the squalor of Port-au-Prince, the Hotel Oloffson is like a fairy-tale castle: a rickety whi...

Theatre Royal Stratford East There is a reading of my short play, BOHEMIANS, on at Theatre Royal Stratford East on February 4th, 10.30 am. I feel very honored to have my work read on the very stage where one of the greats of British Theatre, Joan Littlewood, created her landmark productions such as Oh What a Lovely War! The play is a two-hander set in New York and is directed by Svetlana Dimcovic.

atonal press                  P   r  e   s   s     R  e   l   e   a   s   e Atonal Press announces the official launch of www.atonalpoetryreview.com . Boerne, TX, January 12, 2010:     There is new voice for avant-garde and experimental poetry that can now be heard.   An electronic journal that showcases unconventional writers and subject matter far from the main stream featuring beat, postmodern, jazz, and free verse poetry from all over the world . Atonal Poetry Review (ISSN 2150-5861) inaugural issue has officially launched at www.atonalpoetryreview.com .   There are 30 poets included in this first issue from Canada, Ireland, The Untied States, India, Norway, England, and Germany.  Our Featured poet is Dr. Lorne Foster.    Jaki says...some very...

I will have some new work in the following publications in the coming months - two new poems will appear in the next issue of the very modern and delightful Ouroboros Review : http://www.ouroborosreview.com/ Three new poems will appear in the new and fascinating Atonal Poetry Review : http://www.atonalpoetryreview.com/ Also a new poem will show up in the Australian journal, Stylus , in the summer: http://www.styluspoetryjournal.com ...and a new short story will feature in the next issue (75) of the Frogmore Papers: http://www.frogmorepress.co.uk Yes, you might say I've been very busy!