Reading

Literary Sisters: Lorraine Hansberry

September 13, 2012

Lorraine Hansberry 1930-1964 Biography and background In her brief life, Lorraine Hansberry made a huge impact on the American and world theatre.  Born in Chicago into a middle class, educated family, the story goes that when her parents came to register her birth, they crossed out the printed ‘Negro’ and hand-wrote the word ‘Black.’  Fervent […]

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Literary Sisters: Carson McCullers

August 30, 2012

Carson McCullers 1917-1967 Biography and background Precocious and gifted, Carson McCullers started her writing career at fifteen, in the same year she fell ill with rheumatic fever.  Illness was to be a constant feature of her life; she began having strokes and by the age of 31 was entirely paralysed on her left side.  Despite […]

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Literary Sisters: H.D.

August 23, 2012

This is the first post in the Literary Sisters series.  I had to start with a writer who is close to my heart – the subject of my PhD thesis and of my book H.D. and the image.   But the list is growing longer as people email and tweet me with suggestions for women […]

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Literary Sisters (and wives)

August 15, 2012

At sixteen I fell in love with Virginia Woolf. I can’t say it was love at first sight. It took me a while to work her out – I found her difficult, obtuse and complicated. But once I understood where she was coming from, I was infatuated.  Mrs Dalloway is still pretty much my ‘desert […]

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The Why of reading

January 30, 2012

Last weekend, it was my turn to host our book group.  Earlier in the day, when flurries of fat, wet snowflakes started coming down in earnest, I worried whether anyone would actually make it up the steep, cobbled street into our village. In the end, the meeting went ahead: only one person cancelled and six […]

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New Beginnings – Publication Day

January 23, 2012

It’s a big day today for Rebecca Emin: it’s the official publication date of her novel New Beginnings.  I interviewed Rebecca on this site a couple of months ago (click here for a chance to re read it) in the pre-launch period.  But today, she’s having a websplash to mark the official launch of her book.  Join […]

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