A New Workshop, More Empowered Students!
Last week we ran another workshop here in Siem Reap. This was important for two reasons: first, it was the first one run for the terrific NGO Sala Bai, which takes some of the country's poorest young adults and gives them training in the hospitality industry which...
Encouragement for the Unpublished
Two poetry collections and umpteen published single poems later and I still have never made it into one of the big journals. But every now and again I throw caution to the wind and send out a submission to one of those important literary magazines. Then I have trained...
Anjali House, Phare Circus and Writing Through
A fifth anniversary and a first birthday -- last night was the celebration ending this year's collaborative Writing Through Cambodia workshop between Anjali House and the Phare Cambodian Circus. What an amazing night. It began with us all attending opening night of...
Cambodia Meets The Philippines
Serendipity. A teacher from the Manila Waldorf School was trawling around the internet to find things to do with a group of her Creative Writing students which she was bringing to Siem Reap. She found out about me and Writing Through and got in touch. This was about...
Buddha's Birthday
Today, all the schools and many businesses are closed to celebrate Buddha's Birthday. I went with the students and teachers of Anjali House to the local pagoda at Wat Svai to take part in the rituals. I do love it when I have the chance to participate in these events,...
I'm Back!!!
I'm back here in Siem Reap where the weather is surprisingly not boiling hot! I spent the weekend getting over jet lag and then today I was back at Anjali House, wearing my 'Board of Trustees Hat.' We are now nine months into our switch from a Western-led programme to...
Preparation and Flexibility
In a couple of days, I'll be heading off to my annual big trip to Cambodia -- one month in Siem Reap, most of another month traveling around the northwest, over two months in total, 3 weeks of workshops that I'm running, 2 weeks overseeing workshops run by other...
London Training
As I described in this post, I am now training people to facilitate my Writing Through workshops in schools and NGO's throughout Cambodia. This past weekend, I held my first London-based training session and it was great fun. Ten of us came together in the office of...
Why Freedom of Speech is So Important
Last week found us all caught up, once again, in the tyranny of fear and the outrage of injustice. I, too, was glued to my television, watching events unfold on the streets of Paris. I was, of course, thinking, like everyone, about freedom, what it means, who has it...
Not New Year Resolutions
Not resolutions, goals. 2015 is going to be a busy year, as always. But more importantly, it's going to be momentous (see below). I thought it would be helpful to me to actually write down some of what I hope to achieve this year, to try to get myself organised and...
Me and The Huffington Post
I suppose this will be my last post of 2014. It's been the busiest and most productive year of my writing/working career. At times I've wondered if it was worth it. But then something like this comes along. Jack Schimmelman, a writer for The Huffington Post, has just...
What I Read: 2014
As the holiday season bears down upon us, I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday and New Year. But I also wish for all of us a few minutes, sometime during the mania of the holidays, to sit down, quietly, away from our work and our computers, to just be with...
Anjali House Goes to the Circus
Anjali House is the educational shelter in Siem Reap where my Writing Through Cambodia creative writing workshop started five years ago. Since then, it has become important to me in ways that go far beyond my own workshop with the older kids. Last month when I was...
Writing, Teaching and Writing Through Teaching
There is no doubt that in today's world of writers, teaching plays a big part for most of us. Some teach in university Creative Writing degree programs, but most teach in other places like retreats, writing organisations, schools, prisons, even their own living rooms....
Phare Cambodian Circus
I have now seen this troupe several times and visited their school in Battambang, and I am still amazed. Phare trains poor Cambodian kids in arts like painting, music, video and circus skills. They have been giving livelihoods to poor Cambodians and spectacular...
Caring for Cambodia Workshops: More Amazing Kids
I have just finished my week of running two Writing Through Cambodia workshops for two different high schools supported by Caring for Cambodia. These were two very different schools forty-five minutes away from each other, on completely opposite sides of the Siem Reap...
All Roads Lead to Siem Reap
Less than 24 hours here and already two fun meetings. My friend, Yolanda, who led my very first trip to Cambodia which got me started on all this (it's all her fault), happened to be here leading another house building trip for the NGO Tabitha, and so we arranged to...
Of Canterbury and Cambodia
This week I gave my annual talk to the students at Christ Church Canterbury University. My poetry play, Dreams of May, was placed on their curriculum for the BA Creative Writing course a few years ago, and so every year I go over there to talk about writing across...
Deciding Not To Write
Life is very busy right now. Not only are both my sons planning weddings (as I wrote about here ), but I am also planning the next trip to Cambodia and, very importantly, working very hard to get my Writing Through organisation up and running, complete with training...
Arthur's Eventful Weekend, by Mike Horwood
I recently read Mike Horwood's new novel, Arthur's Eventful Weekend. I liked it very much. It's a deceptive book -- much more than the casual narrative style lulls you into believing. It's experimental yet accessible and, considering nothing much happens, a real...
Poetry and Love
On a personal note, over the past short amount of time, both of my sons have become engaged to wonderful women. We at Chez Guiney couldn't be happier, but the writer-in-residence here can't help from being a bit contemplative, as well. And one of the things I am...
More Finnish Photos!
Photos from Finland
What is it about time? Yes, I know -- it flies. We had been planning our writers' tour of Finland, and now it's all over. It was wonderful to spend so much time in the company of such excellent writers. I learned so much from them all, and gained real confidence just...
Workshop Results from Tampere, Finland
This has been a fantastic tour, and a busy one: 3 readings, 2 school workshops, lots of talking and eating and drinking. When I get frustrated by the difficulties of this writing life, I do need to remember how much it has enriched my life, too -- all the new friends,...
Finland!
I've been invited by the wonderful poet and novelist, Mike Horwood, to spend most of next week giving readings and school workshops in Finland along with another favourite poet and novelist, Noel Duffy. FinnBrit, aka The Finnish British Society, are hosting a series...
History and Beyond and Being Written Down in the Book of Life
I come from a heritage where history and tradition are all important. Indeed, as a Jew, I have often felt as if history has been more important than the present. I don't often write about Judaism here and I'm not going to write about it now. But this High Holiday...
Me on Better After 50
The well-read and very widely circulated ezine, Better After 50, has asked to run an article about me, my writings, my teaching, and why Cambodia. It's been published today and I'm rather chuffed to be able to pass it on to you. You can read it...
Writing Through Cambodia Training Session
Fancy an adventure? Or even a day's dream of one? Then come along to one of my Writing Through Cambodia training sessions! I am very excited to tell everyone, especially my friends in New England, that the first Training Session for my Writing Through Cambodia writing...
Writing vs Teaching
'vs'? Really? I have spent a lot of time this summer pondering just that. Teaching has always been a large part of my career, starting with the occasional workshop in my kids' schools, and then moving on to: * workshops for kids with specific learning disabilities *...
Change Is a Constant, Road Race is Too
reprinted from the Martha's Vineyard Gazette, Friday 15 August 2014 I ran the Chilmark Road Race again this year, and like every year, I made the same joke at the start: “I don’t care how I do, as long as I’m not carried from the finish line to the first aid tent.”...
Contact Author
Feel free to contact Sue
Oops! We could not locate your form.