Gladstone's Library Shortlist

I am honoured to be on the shortlist for the 2017 Writers in Residence Award at Gladstone's Library. The book collection of the Victorian statesman William Ewart Gladstone is now the core of a remarkable residential library 'dedicated to dialogue, debate and learning ... in an age of distraction and easy solutions.' Read the full shortlist here.

The winners will be announced on Monday 3 October at the National Liberal Club in London when the four winning authors will read from their work. Tickets for the Writers in Residence 2017 launch event are priced at £10. To register your interest, please call 01244 532350 or email enquiries@gladlib.org.

The Old Stile Press

The Old Stile Press have been lurking in the bloglist on the right for some time. Their blog is rich in anecdotes about books and breath-taking photos of the Wye Valley.


Last week I dropped by to see the press for myself. The printing office is not so much Beatrice Warde's 'crossroads of civilisation' as a rural idyll in the vein of Samuel Palmer, complete with moss-encrusted barns. However the latest work from the press looks far beyond the Wye Valley to the seas around Orkney. The Girl from the Sea, a little known play by George Mackay Brown, relates the disadvantages of taking a beautiful selkie home as your bride. The evocative images of seals and crofters are by Michael Onken. I love the way the play captures the sense in which humans depend on the sea, and how some are prepared to give themselves up to its mystery.