This year I have written a book. It happened kind of by accident, and then it occurred to me that I ought to get it published, or publish it myself. I began to research publishers online, and found the perfect one, only to discover that they won’t accept direct submissions. I would need a literary agent. But I know almost nothing about literary agents! Where do you find a literary agent? In the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, of course… Continue reading
Month: November 2017
Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale has been adapted and shown on TV this year, so lots of people are reading it. Someone told me the basic premise and I was intrigued. There isn’t much joy in it, but it really gets under your skin and pulls you along. The story opens with the simple description of a room in which a woman (whose real name we never learn) is held captive against her will. Continue reading
Mama Amazonica – Poetry Review & Interview with Pascale Petit
Mama Amazonica is an intoxicating mix of unsettling poems centred around Pascale Petit’s relationship with her mother. Set within the confines of a psychiatric ward, but also within the vast, untamed wilderness of the Amazon rainforest, we encounter the poet’s mother, constrained by mental illness and the physical walls around her. But we also see the sheer unfathomable complexity of the human mind, and its magical, surreal ability to survive trauma.
The following post reveals my own encounter with this remarkable collection, along with insights from Pascale herself, describing her experience of writing the poems, and the inspiration she drew from animals in captivity and in the wild. Continue reading