If you’re within a day’s travel of Oxford and haven’t yet visited The Story Museum, you’re missing out. The museum is a hidden gem in this beautiful city, and 26 Characters is far and away the most exciting, inspiring and thought-provoking exhibition I’ve ever seen. The exhibition takes 26 well known children’s authors and creates a […]
Never mind Page Three – what about women's magazines?
I’m a big supporter of the No More Page Three campaign. I have no issue with women who want to take their clothes off for an audience, but I don’t believe page three of a newspaper is the right place for it. The Sun finds its way into two million homes every day, where it […]
A field full of cows
I am not a fan of cows. I’m not easily intimated by large animals, having owned horses for many years, but I have a nervousness around cows which I darkly suspect they recognise. Many years ago, when I was on maternity leave with three children under 18 months, […]
Book covers: what draws you in?
A library in Cumbria is wrapping books in plain paper, to encourage readers to expand their choices and pick up something they wouldn’t normally read. It’s not a new idea (Google ‘blind date with a book’, and you’ll see what I mean) but it’s a great one. Covers are hugely important. as I write this, […]
A scrap of paper
We moved house when Josh was eight months old. I didn’t know it then, but even as the boxes left our house at one end of the town, and stacked up in our new house at the other, I was already pregnant with his sisters. The pull of your first family home is like no […]
Writer in Residence: position sought
I don’t like driving. Not only is my track record rather poor (at the last count, I had written off more cars than I have owned), but I find it a phenomenal waste of time. I like listening to the radio, and short journeys at least give me the chance to sit and catch my […]