Category: General

Sorcerers’ Tales

RENATO Cardenas lives alone in a bleached wooden house, shielded by pine trees and the kind of mysterious smile you might expect from a wizard. Not that he will admit to being a wizard. “I’ve heard that people call me El Brujo Cardenas,” is all he will concede, tantalisingly, as he ushers us inside, amusement twitching…

Exploring Dangerous Truths

Great to see John Rae finally getting the recognition he deserves on his 200th birthday.  Never heard of him?  Me neither, until I came across the story of Britain’s most undervalued Arctic explorer a few years ago in Orkney. Born in Stromness, Dr Rae’s accomplishments tower above those of many of his more famous Victorian…

A Quiet Hero

You’ve probably never heard of Sir John Crofton, but if you value your lungs, you should certainly toast him. It was Crofton, half a century ago, who discovered the first 100 per cent cure for the age-old scourge of tuberculosis. Crofton, too, who pioneered the global method currently being used to fight terrifying new drug-resistant…

Critic Meets Child

Written as encouragement for those taking part in the Safe Space charity Write-athon  * * *  “A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” Thomas Mann I laughed with relief when I first heard this wise quotation from the great German novelist. I can never quite relate to…

Jeanette Winterson interview

One of my favourite books of 2011 was Jeanette Winterson’s memoir Why be Happy When you Could be Normal? So I was delighted to get the opportunity to interview her recently for Third Way Magazine. Anyone familiar with her award-winning Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, in either its novel or BBC TV serial format, will…

Scroll to Top