On Sunday night, I went to see author Taiye Selasi read from and talk about her new novel, Ghana Must Go. She was ace – witty and warm. Also she’s a stone fox, with the deep brown complexion and cheekbones of a goddess. I got to ask a question (yeah!), and she smiled at me [...]
I live in a small and perfectly formed flat in east London. Yes, I know: a writer who lives in Hackney. In my defence, I do not own a cat (or a sausage dog), I have never left the house with a ‘hipster topknot’, I cannot ride a bike nor do I own one, and [...]
The scene: 10:30pm, Brixton Station, a couple of weekends ago, waiting for the 133 bus.
Hey, y’all. Last week, at a literary night called ‘Letters You Never Sent’, I read out a letter to a roomful of strangers (and a few friends). It was the first time I’ve ever read any of my fiction in public, to a paying audience (eek!) and I enjoyed it very much – thank God [...]
I’m currently in a job which gives me Fridays off. I’m so grateful for it – as well as having a designated day of non-work writing, it allows me to have a lie-in on a weekday (woo!), and I get to do the necessary-but-boring stuff like paying bills and returning library books.
I recorded a (very) short piece about the London riots – specifically Hackney – over the weekend. It’s available to listen on the iPlayer until the very precise time of 10:02 on Sunday, 21 August. My ego thanks you.
We’ve all been glued to the internet and our TV screens for the last few days, watching as London seemingly imploded. So many voices have piped up with opinions (like areseholes, we’ve all got one) and they range from the ‘WTF?’ (see Max Hastings in Daily Mail – highlights include references to polar bears, wild [...]
Yeah, that totally happened. Last Wednesday, I was sitting at a bus stop in east London, waiting for my sister to come get me so I could help with her house move (we were due to to clean the flat’s carpets, cos we’re just this side of OCD). So there I was, late afternoon August [...]
It really is this simple: I cannot imagine my life as it is today without libraries. I joined my first library at the age of 4 – when we were doing a massive clearout some time in 2001, we discovered an unreturned library book (sorry!) from 1987. Civic irresponsibility aside, it was one of my [...]
Morning, all. Last Sunday I was invited into the hallowed halls of Radio 4, to do the newspaper review on Broadcasting House. I was so excited, a little wee may’ve come out. Ahem. I had a lovely time, the other guests – former head of the Arts Council, Sir Christopher Frayling and hynotist and author [...]
Last Monday night, I left my parents’ house in quite a bit of pain – the left side of my back was in agony – shooting pains that got worse every time I attempted a deep breath. My dad insisted he follow me to the hospital, but I convinced him – finally, at the bus [...]
Last night, I caught Who Gets The Best Jobs? on BBC2. The epg on my cheapo Freeview box gave the following synopsis: “Richard Bilton investigates how class continues to restrict access to professions and well-paid careers to a small exclusive pool of the well-connected in modern Britain.” I couldn’t not watch this.
Perception is a powerful thing. What we see, and what we think when we look are inextricably linked in the dark and murky recesses of our brains. I was thinking of this last Thursday afternoon, after the fire alarm in my building went off.
For all the things that life can be, what it ultimately is, is relative. Whatever you are and whatever you have can only be measured by what somebody else is, what somebody else has. So, if you have £100 in your pocket, there’s somebody out there with £101, and there’s another with £99. Your position [...]
I loved The Family. Seriously, check my Twitter feed – I live-blogged the whole thing. The first episode centred around the 60th birthday of dad Sunday and all the things that revolve around such a momentous occasion. In this case, there was the baking and icing of several cakes, preparing for a special church outing [...]
