We Londoners have very mixed feelings about these Olympics. Sure, it's a once in a lifetime chance to go to an Olympic event -- if you can get a ticket, and if you can afford it once you've gotten it. It's fun the way the entire city is becoming one big street party....

I love Daunt Books. I love the "olde world" wood shelves. I love the way it sets out to present the entire globe between book covers. But I especially love it because it continues to stock my novel, A Clash of Innocents. I popped in over the weekend while I was in the...

Roast Books has released an unusual and beautiful collection of short stories called Interactions. This is a one off, illustrated collection which celebrates the wide array of stories which have been used by the health charity, InterAct Reading Service.I first heard...

The Olympics...so much has been said about it. So much more will undoubtedly be said. But the Poetry Olympics is something special and will be happening at the South Bank, London on Thursday night. I hope to be there, and although I'd love to describe it all for you,...

CurvingRoad  TheatreDelicatessenSix years ago, I founded a theatre production company dedicated to giving new theatre artists their first piece of luck. That company was called CurvingRoad. Over the next six years we went on to produce plays both in London's West End...

I have just come back from ten days in the States where I was born, bred, educated and moulded into the proto-version of what I am today. Tomorrow starts the four day Jubilee weekend back here in Britain in what I now call home. More than enough has been said already...

...I'm getting happier, and psychologist, Laura Carstensen, explains why below (or here). Thanks, TED, and Happy Birthday to me.

I'm back on the road, back in my old hunting/haunting grounds of Boston, Connecticut and New York. And first stop Boston. It's been a bit weird this time. I have flown in to do two writing-related events and am playing tourist in this city which has been my US base...

It's been a full on crazy few months (let's face it...year), with lots of travel, lots of promoting, lots of "serious" writing, too. But I have to be honest with you.  I'm struggling a bit with my poetry, lately.  Yes, I have been writing and revising and revising...

This past Sunday was Mother's Day in the US, Canada and South America (most of it I think). Forgive me if I've left some places out. Of course, "Mothering Sunday" in the UK is in March. Needless to say, for cross-cultural families like mine, this causes some...

I think she means business...Non-British readers may not know what The Queen's Speech is. No, it doesn't have anything to do with stuttering or Colin Firth. It is the annual speech, written by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, and read out by The Queen at the...

I often joke about my poor husband. The more money he makes, the more I seem to give away. I donate to many causes. If anything, I have to start being a bit more discriminating so that I can give more to the causes I care most about. I give my time away like crazy,...

I've decided to learn Khmer. I had my first lesson this week and although it's a bit overwhelming, it's even more exciting. Thankfully, the grammar is relatively simple, but the pronunciation is quite strange. And of course, there is the question of how many new words...

I've now been home for a week. I think I'm pretty well over my jet lag and so I thought it would be a good time to look back on this year's trip to SE Asia and see how I'm feeling about it all. I wrote a blog the day before I left outlining all I had hoped to...

The news yesterday was that Britain is now officially in a "double dip" recession. We all knew times were bad. Isn't it comforting, though, to know it is now official.....      The news for a long time now is that people are buying fewer books, especially fiction...

I'm home. After nearly two months and thousands of miles, I'm back at my desk in my apartment overlooking the Thames. It feels good to be home, and I'm trying to stay calm and focused on all that I have learned and experienced during this trip to SE Asia, rather than...

Earlier this week, I taped a half hour interview with the host of Kuala Lumpur's BFM 89.9 "The Bigger Picture," Umapagan Ampikaipakan, and his producer, Lee Chwi Lynn.  I must admit, I'm becoming a bit of a ham. It's such fun for me to sit and talk about A Clash of...

iOut several kilometres from the centre of Kuala Lumpur is a suburb called Petaling Jaya. In Petaling Jaya there is a house. In the house there is the office for CHAI, the Cafe House of Art and Ideas. Next to the office is a room used for rehearsal space, workshops...

My last day at Anjali House coincided with the big party to celebrate Khmer New Year: Sou's Day Chnyom Tmei!  New Year's here is like Christmas and New Years back in the West. The anticipation, the celebration is just as intense and just as elaborate. The entire...

Saturday night was the launch party of the Anjali House Writing Workshop that I have been leading while I've been here in Siem Reap. Actually, this was more of a birthday party because this event marked one year since the beginning of this on-going workshop with the...

Last week I wrote about the redevelopment of the Siem Reap River banks here. Now, just about a week later, all the houses and businesses are gone and replaced by heaps of rubble dotted by bulldozers. Thanks to donors from around the world, Anjali House's fundraising...

My two weeks worth of workshops are now over and during that time I have been observing Khmer kids both inside the classroom and out. Weirdly, at the same time, I have been watching episodes of a US TV drama which I downloaded before coming over: Friday Night Lights....

This is not an unusual story. Versions of it happen in every city, every area facing gentrification (as we call it in the West) or development (as it's known in the 3rd world).Siem Reap is a major tourist destination. It has been for many years now, but more and more...

Okay...you twisted my arm......Lovely, eh?

Jam packed!Saturday morning I went to the Silk Farm. It is about 10 km outside Siem Reap city down National Road 6, which is also the road to the airport. I went by tuk tuk, which was wild. Imagine sitting in a covered cart pulled by a motorbike (with the speed of a...

In my last post I mentioned this as a new addition to the Anjali House program. I am especially proud of them for doing this, because it really does show an unusual and crucial commitment to the ongoing development of these kids. Once they finish school, anywhere...

I've gone back to school, and a lot has happened since this time last year. Anjali House has had a paint job, a bit of a renovation which includes a library, new bathrooms for the kids, an office for the director. The program has expanded to include the oversight of...

My first night sleeping in my guest house in Siem Reap was fine, for the first three hours. After that, jet lag set in and I was up looking at the clock every hour or so from then on. But I wasn't fussed. This was Friday night, the next day was Saturday and all I had...

My last post was called "Miles to Go Before I Sleep." Well, I've gone miles -- many thousands of them -- but there hasn't been much sleeping. The jet lag has been pretty intense. I've only been here in Kuala Lumpur for about 36 hours, but tomorrow I fly onto Cambodia....

Tomorrow I head off to Kuala Lumpur and then Cambodia. The 2012 tour begins. It's hard to believe it's been a year since I was in Asia, promoting A Clash of Innocents and setting up the writing workshop at Anjali House. That trip was a whirlwind of events and...