Why the Novel?
It seems at least once a year somebody is railing about the death of the novel. I've thrown my hands up in despair about it so many times that I won't bother to show you the links. But there's a somewhat different and interesting take on the question going around...
John Burgess: Temple in the Clouds. Fiction vs Non-Fiction
John Burgess, former foreign correspondent for the Washington Post, has written a fascinating and compelling history of the temple known as Preah Vihear, which lies on the border of Cambodia and Thailand. Ownership of this important site has been disputed for...
A Workshop Among the Ruins
it's always a pleasure to turn my blog over to someone who has recently returned from facilitating a Writing Through workshop. There are no better ambassadors for the work that we do than the talented and brave people who go out into the field and work with the...
Bye Bye, Yogi
I may have grown up in New York, but I was never a Yankees fan. I always rooted for the scraggly underdogs, i.e. The Mets, and then when I married into a Red Sox family, well..... But I always loved Yogi Berra -- who didn't?-- and the fact that he was affiliated with...
Stop. Start?
There is a weird thing that happens to runners. Sometimes, in the midst of a run, despite running along quite confidently, all of a sudden, you stop. The feet stop moving as quickly. The legs slow to a walk, or come to a complete halt. And very often, you don't know...
Now what?
It feels a bit like confession: 'Dear God, it's been 6 weeks since my last blog.' Well, I've been busy. Doing what, you ask? * recovering from throwing my son and new daughter-in-law's wedding * flying to California to help my son and new daughter-in-law settle into...
Writing Through Phnom Penh
My NGO, Writing Through, recently held 2 workshops in the Phnom Penh centre of Enfants du Mekong -- one in English and one in French! Let me turn my blog over to the Facilitators, Lisa Edmondson and Anne-Estelle Bourgeon, for their reports. First, Lisa's essay, and...
Not So Hopeless After All?
So, this isn't what I had planned to write about here today. But lots can happen in a week. The last sentence of one of my blog posts of last week read: All I can say is that although I am one of the most pollyanna-ishly optimistic and hopeful people I know, I feel...
Three Months on the Road with Writing Through
Over the past three months, our intrepid Writing Through Facilitator, Katy Oglethorpe, traveled - first with me (Sue Guiney) and then, for most of the time, on her own - throughout the northwest of Cambodia, delivering our workshops to the children in the most remote...
Trying to Understand Another American Shooting
Much has already been written about last week's terrible shooting in South Carolina. I usually try not to use this blog as a forum for my political convictions, but this time I find that I need to speak out, especially as an American who has spent most of her adult...
Being Part of a 50th Anniversary
Many know that I have played the violin since I was seven years old. Playing the violin is such a basic part of me that I rarely mention it. But for over twenty years, I have been a member of the first violin section of the Kensington Philharmonic, one of London's...
My Favourite Author, Again?
Writers are always being asked this question. It kind of drives me crazy, though. My favourite author changes over time, with age, with circumstance. And I know that people are always expecting me to say something especially clever, or name someone surprising. So...
Shelter Me, by Circumference
i recently wrote about Theatre Delicatessen here. That post was about their new mentoring programme, Departure Point. But today I want to tell you all about a rather spectacular theatrical experience going on at Theatre Delicatessen right now. I saw it Saturday night...
I Wanna' Go To The Beach: Camber Sands
After living a quarter of a century on these hallowed shores, I've decided it's about time to focus on the beach. I love the beach and I especially love sandy ones. I spend the summer on an island going to the beach every day. My favourite writing retreat in Ireland,...
Departure Point
Happily (or should I say jauntily), I wear many hats in my career. Today I want to don my theatrical hat and talk about a British theatre company which I am very much involved with, and their latest venture. Theatre Delicatessen started out as a group of four...
Good News from Cambodia via IJM
When I was doing my research for my latest novel, Out of the Ruins, I walked along some pretty frightening streets in the part of Siem Reap that the tourists usually don't see. I saw some upsetting scenes which I won't describe now, but a few did land inside the...
Looking Back
I'm deeply grateful for the kind words and encouragement from the novelist, Lynda Renham. We share a common passion for Cambodia and here she takes a moment away from writing her hilarious comic novels to ask me about the changes which have occurred to my own writing...
"Cocoon" and the Value of Patience
Back in 2009, after my first novel, Tangled Roots, was published, I had a bit of an awkward time around the London Book Fair. As part of the Fair, the British Council brought over some writers from India in a bid for cultural exchange. They asked for local,...
Important Advice from Mad Men's Matt Weiner
Thanks to Paul McVeigh for posting this fantastically inspirational article by Matt Weiner of Mad Men fame. I love Weiner's article and want to share it with everyone for a bunch of reasons. Firstly, because everything in it is true and generous and important for all...
Whose Story Is It, Anyway?
I'm back in writing mode now, which is a lovely, though sometimes aggravating mode to be in. It's interesting to me how it doesn't seem to matter how many novels I write -- and amazingly, I am now starting on my fourth - the same questions always trip me up. I suppose...
Finding Poetry in Cambodia
Over the five years that I have been engaged with all things Cambodian, I have written two novels set there, started to research a third, taught a couple of hundred students, raised money and awareness. I now joke that it seems I work in Cambodia although I live in...
Preah Vihear and Writing Through Big Events
This was a big weekend for Writing Through. The weeklong Full-Length workshops always culminate in a 'Big Event' where the students stand up and read the work they had written over the course of the workshop. Usually, their presentations lead to a party with food and...
Banteay Chhmar Revisited
I have just come back to Siem Reap after running the second of our Writing Through workshops for the children of the Enfants du Mekong centre in the remote northern village of Banteay Chhmar. Much has changed. The road which last year looked like this: is now,...
Magic in Siem Reap
Magic happens here all the time. You never know when one stray conversation will lead to a new connection, a new opportunity. This past Friday we traveled from Sisophon, which I wrote about here, back to Siem Reap for the Writing Through Cambodia Big Event celebrating...
Helping the Monks
A quick post to tell about how I had the chance to join a few other long-term guests at my guest house to help a nearby Pagoda with a much needed construction project. The young family who own the guest house, Horizons, wanted to help the monks build a place where...
Brainstorming in Sisophon
I have spent the last few days in the small provincial city of Sisophon, the capitol of Banteay Meanchey province in northwestern Cambodia. To be honest, there isn't a lot going on here. Tourists rarely come. You won't find tuk tuks cruising the streets looking for...
Teaching Teachers in Phnom Penh
I spent this past week in Phnom Penh. I come every year. I have always loved its craziness, its mass of humanity on the streets, the astonishing juxtaposition of developed and undeveloped. Mostly now, though, it is a city full of friends, and I spent many nights this...
Writers Abroad Magazine
I've been called many things, but this one I like 🙂 'A Writer Abroad" This is also the name of a fairly new magazine (the 2nd issue is now out) whose mission statement is clearly stated on its cover: Connecting Writers ...
The Power of Reading Aloud
While I am here in Siem Reap, I make it a habit to find time to read aloud to the kids in the public school housed on the grounds of my favourite pagoda, Wat Damnak. The reading takes place in another favourite place of mine, the children's library of the Centre for...
Doing Research the Old Fashioned Way…
...or Sue's Excellent Adventure! Most of what I am doing here in Cambodia is teaching workshops, working with kids and organising Writing Through. But I also wanted to do some research for my next novel. I had read about some villages on the top of Phnom Kulen, a...
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