I’ll be at the Edbookfest this year to talk about my book, White Chrysanthemum, along with Wu Ming-Yi and his wonderful book, The Stolen Bicycle. I’ll also be supporting Amnesty International’s Imprisoned Writers Series by reading from the work of Freedom From Torture survivors, along with Antti Tuomainen. Details for both events are below: …
What does freedom mean to you? The Edinburgh International Book Festival’s young programmers, Codename F, have been exploring different aspects of Freedom and now they want to hear from you! Send them your thoughts and see them displayed in their specially curated Freedom to be Heard event at the Book Festival on 14 August. Find …
I am ecstatic that I will be at the Saint-Maur en Poche Literary Festival in France this weekend, 23-24 June, where I will sign copies of Filles de la Mer, the brilliant French edition of White Chrysanthemum. Check out their website to see the many, many amazing French and international authors who will be there. …
Kew Gardens Temperate House is the largest Victorian glass house in use today. Its recent restoration is a resounding success as the immaculate structure is glorious. School children filled the walkways as I meandered past exotic blooms, “how many colours have we found so far?” a teacher asked her charges, “seven!” came a confident reply …
This small house on the fjord in Oslo would be an ideal writing hideaway. I see myself sitting at the window watching the world sail by, their nondescript faces blinking against the summer sun as they pass, and words filling my screen because I have nowhere to go, nothing to do but look and think …
The Litro World Series Summer Literary & Arts Festival ’18 is this weekend in London and will focus on India & South Korea. Join me on Saturday, 26 May (3:00-4:00PM) as I’ll be in conversation with novelists Uzma Aslam Khan (The Geometry of God) and Manu Pillai (The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore). …
Walking through Paddington Cemetery this image of trees in very different stages of life reminded me of Shel Silverstein’s story, The Giving Tree. Whenever I read that story I believed the tree was the boy’s mother, who sacrificed everything she had, even her body, to help him survive. As a girl I despised the boy …
