The Colour of Reading
Back in the days when Moray Libraries still needed me and my expertise, I had some responsibility for our Facebook page. For a while we…
Interview with Linda Newbery
Linda Newbery's writing career to date begins and ends with animal rights. In between is a diverse selection of topics, themes and genres for a…
Some Further Thoughts on DFB
In my less realistic and rational moments (I can't actually write and I don't own the copyright) I imagine writing a follow on novel for…
Some Fan Fiction
Regular readers of this blog will have been unable to avoid the revelation that my favourite mid twentieth century writer is Dorita Fairlie Bruce. I…
Travel By the Book
On my other blog ( please feel very free to wander over to http://www.janespicturejournal.com) I mentioned in an article that I am unable to daydream…
My Lockdown Books: Fifty Two
I met Mollie Hunter a couple of times: once at a book festival I organised to mark the Carnegie Medal, held at the original Carnegie…
My Lockdown Books: Twenty Three
You were expecting Anne of the Island, weren't you? I'm not surprised as I've cited it as one of my favourite books, never mind my…
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
If you were looking for a novel that captures the popular essence of Edinburgh in the 1930s, there's a fair chance you would light upon…
Continue reading → The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Carnegie Medal
The nominations for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals were published today. As a former judge, I'm always excited, interested and sometimes disappointed. Like…
Christmas Day
DE Stevenson was a best-selling author of her day, the mid-twentieth century. She wrote romances and family stories often with a bit of an edge.…
