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I have started writing a fiction novel!

Hi all! After spending many months attending endless galaxies of creative writing workshops (and taking the time to write about them in previous blog posts), I have decided that it is time to step up a notch and try writing a fiction novel. So, last Wednesday, I was out for a wonder along the Hillingdon canals in deepest west London, tracing a journey in a story that combines autism, defying family, world travel to Singapore and mental recovery, all into one complete package.  The Grand Union in Uxbridge There is also some hint of misdirection being thrown in the wind along this part of the adventure, as seen at the entrance to the Slough Arm near West Drayton: Once I got to West Drayton, I took a bus out to the massive structure that is Heathrow Terminal 5, where I spent some time tracing the departure from the UK, before moving on to the famous Myrtle Avenue planespotting area - there, I was able to get a glimpse of the very flight that I was writing about in the story; the Briti...
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My experiences of Writing Children's Literature Day

Here we are again... just over a week on from experiencing the cartographic foolery, we're back - this time, exploring the world of children's writing and illustration, and I am going to share this experience of going to a children's writing event with you all.  So, Writing Children's Literature Day was an event that took place at the Hold in Ipswich on Saturday, the 2nd of May 2026. The event revolved around children's and young adult literature, illustration and publishing, and was hosted by the Darley Anderson literary agency, in conjunction with Suffolk Archives, as well as Dr Lindsey Scott from the University of Suffolk's creative writing ranks. Event attendees were able to purchase tickets to attend the entire day at a cost of £20, while those who only wanted to attend individual talks, could purchase individual tickets at a cost of £8.  That being said, let's get to the day's events, and unlike previous writings about other events, we're going...
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Exploring "Nosce te ipsum" with Michael Sauter

After only a few weeks of silence, it's time for some more blogposting! As promised, this post's topic will be focused on this map: Yes, that's right, it's the famous Fool's Cap Map of the World from 1595 (also known as Nosce te ipsum - Latin for "know thyself"), and a History academic at the University of Suffolk has recently published a book that delves into the story behind this map. While  Nosce te ipsum, and other kinds of maps that are similar to it, are maps that I had already seen on display at the Secret Maps exhibition at the British Library many months ago, I have never had the time to get to know more about what the map's purpose was all about. Well, finally, I now have the chance. As is typical of event posts, let's start by going into some details about the History academic that delivered the talk in the University's Waterfront Lecture Theatre on the evening of the 23rd of April. So, Dr Michael Sauter is an Associate Professor of...
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Wolsey Writers - Diving into Terry Pratchett

Hi all! After going through the beauty that is the Lemn Sissay experience at the end of March, and whilst waiting for Michael Sauter's event to come around on the 23rd of April, I decided to divert off the main path and try out another creative writing group, that is based near to where I live - the Wolsey Writers group!  So, what is this all about? Well, Wolsey Writers is a creative writing meetup that was originally set-up in 2015 by Katie Ward , a former creative writing lecturer at the University of Suffolk, and a published author of two novels, having written Girl Reading in 2013, as well as Pathways in 2024. Each month, the group dives in to different literary topics, and external speakers from the Suffolk literary community are invited into the group from time-to-time to give talks in areas that are within their area of expertise.  It is based at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich, and the meetup usually takes place on the first Saturday of every month from 10:30am to...
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Writing a Lemn Sissay-inspired four-liner

Let's start this post by saying that this is going to be a very short post compared to what I usually write here, and I know that it is a bit of a break from fantasy mapping tradition. So, I have been to a live poetry reading event with Lemn Sissay at the University of Suffolk on the 23rd of March, where at one point, he was reading out some of his four-line poems that he wrote in the Sunday Times bestseller  Let the Light Pour In . When I walked out of that session, I thought to myself, "let's write a four-liner about this event that mimics the action in Lemn's poems". So, to try and lighten up everyone's spirit going into the Easter holidays, that's exactly what I am going to do - write a four-liner that takes in as much of the event atmosphere as possible. Here's my take on this. Let the light pour in Let the imagination breathe in Laughter overcomes us And wisers become Tizers. Having written about Lemn Sissay's event in the most creative way ...
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A masterclass on writing cities with Elena Medel - with a poetic twist

Well, hello there, and I hope that we have all have managed to recover from the festivities of the new year. We're back, and this post dives deep into a subject that I strongly believe in from the bottom of my heart - a creative writing workshop on writing about cities with Elena Medel, which took place on the 26th of January 2026 from 10:30am to 3:00pm at the British Library in London. As is customary of each and every blog post of this nature, I shall start by giving some introductions as to who is Elena. Elena Medel is an award-winning Spanish poet and writer, who started writing her first poem, My First Bikini (Mi primer bikini) in 2001, before going on to write a couple more poems over the years (including Chatterton, which won the Loewe Young Poets prize in 2014), and eventually getting around to releasing her first novel, The Wonders ( Las Maravillas) in 2020, which was translated into 15 languages, and released to positive acclaim from a wide range of journals and publicat...
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Run-up to the end of 2025 - Secret Maps at the British Library

It's been quite dead on my blog since the last post on the tales of creative writing, and that's because I have been busy in London's big library - so to celebrate the end of the 2025, let's explore the Secret Maps exhibition together and bring the mysteries of mapping alive... The Secret Maps Exhibition So, as is usual in blogposts about events, let's talk about what this exhibition is all about. So, Secret Maps is an exhibition that explores mapping and the theme of secrecy and privacy, ranging from 14th century ideas to the present day, taking place at the British Library from the 24th of October 2025 to the 18th of January 2026.  The map curators at the Library had a very tough task over the previous three years in preparing the exhibition for display; choosing the right themes for the exhibition and having to meticulously pick out 100 of the most relevant items from the Library's extensive map collection (4.3 million maps to be precise), along with contacti...
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