Once again the lines are blurring between my different identities, and by that I mean in every sense. Today I was approached by a former mentor and a former employer to begin a task that requires all my past and current experiences to merge together. The task is to tutor a group of Pakistani scholars […]

  There seems to be a growing sense of resentment amongst authors and agents toward the publishing industries heavy handed approach in dealing with writers. There are a few articles and a couple of blogs on the Bookseller website that voice these concerns, including Tom Holland, the chair of the Society of Authors. This leads […]

  Poetry Workshop To mark the annual occasion of the Islamic Night of Ascension, I led a creative writing workshop (as part of my day job) with a group of Year 6 students (erm, aged 10?) from two Burnley primary schools, St Peter’s and St Johns. The group was a mixture of boys and girls […]

No doubt the economic pressures of the new budget will spark off a fresh round of mental health problems. Job losses like our generation has never seen are about to land very soon; mostly from the public sector and the not-for-profit sector. Even without these extra stress factors people seem to be geared towards depression, […]