I've just come back from a trip to Riyadh, Dubai, and Doha. Not much sign of the Arab Spring in these places, although the local papers always make interesting reading. The Gulf Times lambasted Obabma for not giving enough support to rebel groups. Gulp. I wonder if Sheikh Mohammed knows about this.
Riyadh is, as ever, a pretty charmless place. Dubai is outrageous. Doha, as Goldilocks might have remarked, is just right. I sat with a friend on a restaurant balcony overlooking the souk, smoking a shisha, and all was well with the world.
W&N have sent me their New Voices publication for 2012 - extracts from new writers. I'm included and so are a few chapters from Maximilian. It is scary to realise how good the other writers all are. I'm now reading them on my iPad, in order. I haven't come to my bits yet. You can upload this on PDF if you google 'W&N New Voices 2012"
John Ironmonger (author of 'Not Forgetting the Whale' - and other books) ... blogging about life, and travel, and books, and family, and writing, and Javan rhinos ...
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"How terribly strange to be seventy ..." July 2024
In case you don’t recognise the quotation … it’s from the song, ‘ Bookends’ by Simon and Garfunkel from the album of the same name. The ful...
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Up river in Ujung Kulon looking for Javan Rhinos ... I'd be the first to admit that Indonesia isn't exactly a top destination o...
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[ This was posted to my blog on 12th February 2020 when we were only just beginning to hear about Coronavirus - just in case you wonder why...
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This gorgeous cover-design is for my novella, ‘ The Year of the Dugong’ (Das Jahr des Dugong )’ due to be published in German on October 2...
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At Kenton ... The Stanley Nairobi Back in January I shared, on this blog, my anxieties about going back to Nairobi. ‘Never Go Back,’ was the...
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What is it like to hear someone read your writing aloud? I don't think I'd ever had that experience before. Not really; not read...
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Perhaps I shouldn't admit to this. Maybe I should post a youthful photo and pretend to be thirty five. Oh dear. This is harder than I th...
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Lava flowing into the sea I really should have consulted a map. But I'll blame the guidebooks all the same. They all say that Krakato...
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Orang A village on the Sekonyer river A Klotok Proboscis Monkeys Enough of books and book prizes and the stresses and ...
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Never go back. I’ve been given that piece of advice plenty of times, by lots of different people, but always with reference to one partic...