Jakub's Fantasy Map World

Avast ye mateys, How we arrr doing? Yes, I am back after quite some time away from this blog, and this time, we are going to be taking a look at the world of piracy, and all the linguistical quirks that come along with writing these stories.  Why am I writing about pirates here on this blog? Well, the worldbuilding in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, Treasure Island  involved making a fantasy treasure map, complete with equally piratey place names, such as Skeleton Island and Spyglass Hill, as well as locations of all the bounty that you could quite possibly find on the island. When I first saw it in the Secret Maps exhibition at the British Library nearly a year ago, I was actually quite amazed to see that there wasn't just a massive collection of real-life maps that obfuscate confidential material from prying eyes, but that secret maps can also be used to spark our imaginations and create artistic flair out of it. Map of Treasure Island So, this is why we are here, and what b...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Hello all! I am back! Welcome to the "new normal" from me. It has been more than four months since I have last written a blog post of any kind, but I finally have the motivation to write about something again - and in this blog post, we are going back to books and authors! Let's get going on this little adventure, starting off with a run-through of the Ipswich Book Festival.  Ipswich Book Festival (4th and 5th of October 2025) As is usual in my blog posts, I would like to start off by giving out some background information about the festival. So, the Ipswich Book Festival was a new book convention that was run to gather together authors, academics and readers and share their experiences about poetry, prose fiction and the more mundane matters that were happening in between. The Ipswich Book Festival ran in a number of different locations across Ipswich from the 3rd to the 5th of October. Nearly all of the events were ticketed, with the price to attend many events ranging ...