Winter Newsletter
Welcome,
It’s that time of year again, darker nights but brighter lights. Thoughts of Christmas and other festivals around the corner, candles lit, trees twinkling... Reading and writing can end up taking second position in the To Do list come December – we know!
But we’ve been having some thoughts we wanted to share with you to keep your imagination fizzing and your thoughts unspooling, turning your mind towards books and films and songs we all love so much and serving up quite a December feast!
WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING:
Exquisite Cadavers by Meena Kandasamy
A thought-provoking novel which challenges notions of the domestic and the autobiographical in women’s writing.
Stephen is a fan of Wordpath, a great fiction writer, and The Guardian’s Spain correspondent. His second volume of stories shows how at home he is in the short form - these stories of love, loss, relationships and toxic masculinity stay with you.
The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel
A long overdue corrective to the familiar white, western male canon. Thrilling and enlightening. One example: would Klimt’s The Kiss exist without the work of Glasgow’s Margaret Macdonald Macintosh? After reading this wonderful book, we think not…
The Collected Stories by Mavis Gallant
We’re delighted to hear that, like Katherine Mansfield, Mavis Gallant’s star is on the ascendant and people are starting to notice the amazing contribution she made towards the short form. Here, Francine Prose discusses why Gallant’s work is so important.
Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford
Maybe the holiday season is the time to start one of those really big novels you’ve always been meaning to get to, but somehow never have. Parade’s End is a four part novel about consciousness and feeling, about trying to communicate and failing, then managing, then failing again, finally understanding. Beautiful and fragmentary and full of emotion and thought.
WHAT WE'VE BEEN WATCHING:
The debut feature from Scottish director Charlotte Wells is so beautiful, dreamy and melancholy – a wonderful take on father-daughter relationships, memory, and the passing of time.
Artemisia Uncovered : a short, meditative look at the work of conservators on Artemisia Gentileschi’s 16th century painting ‘Inspiration’ in Florence.
WHAT'S GOT US THINKING:
A new literary and arts website and creative centre set up by literary agent Clare Conville and bright with ideas and new writing.
WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO LATELY:
St Columba’s Hospice, Edinburgh:
Working with the Arts Team at St Columba’s Hospice on a Storytelling Event to celebrate ‘Absent Friends.’ We salute the vital work of artists and writers in hospices.
To that end, we leave you with this joyous international songwriting collaboration between schoolchildren and hospices in Scotland and Greece. Songwriting for Change, Loss & Grief. The power of words & music.
BE INSPIRED:
I try to say I love you in a million different ways. That’s what I aspire to do. That’s what I do best ~ Christine McVie
We wish you all a very happy festive season, good reading, good writing, much love and friendship. Here’s to a happy & creative 2023!
