Privileged to have attended @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social inspiring, funny, urgent Children’s Laureate lecture yesterday. The packed audience was captivated, like hundreds of kids being read a bedtime story! What a brilliant job he has done while in the role.

Inspiring day at annual Sir Harry Evans Truth Tellers Summit capped by @tinabrownlm.bsky.social introing Matthew Rhys reading Harry’s immaculate prose. Also wowed by Nobel Peace Laureate @mariaressa.bsky.social on ‘information armageddon’ and Walter Isaacson on the intersection of tech & culture.

It is my great honour to have been appointed Chair of @librariesconnected.org.uk - as explained further in this blog…

librariesconnected.org.uk/news/public-li…

My latest deep dive into a great novella (here, into the Thames too). Please join me…
open.substack.com/pub/novellac...

This has to be the least onerous book club out there. Whether you’re a bookworm keen to explore a great short novel in depth, a lapsed reader in need of a quick fix to get back on track, or simply bored stiff of scrolling, Novella Club is just the ticket.
open.substack.com/pub/novellac...

The novella's time has come! With reading for pleasure under siege from our attention economy, I'm exploring masterpieces that can be read in one gulp. Please join me on Substack...
Welcome to Novella Club
open.substack.com/pub/novellaclu…

A beautiful, inspiring array of tributes to my late mum’s partner, Andrew Clements, who died last weekend. If only he could read them. The snapshots vividly capture brilliant Andrew, whom I already deeply miss.

The week my kids have Oxbridge interviews, the legendary prof who took mine way back when - and immediately put me at ease - has died. John Carey was as generous as he was brilliant, supporting my own books years later (he chose Ben Jonson for Poems That Make Grown Men Cry). A kind, inspiring man.

Enjoyed stumbling across this 1996 takedown of ex-Prince Andrew from my old man, as featured in Andrew Lownie’s recent biography Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York.

Inspiring event hosted by Libraries Connected at amazing Manchester Central Library to mark 175 years of the Public Libraries Act. Great to hear Minister Baroness Twycross call libraries ‘the purest expression of democracy in action’. They remain our brightest beacons for true ‘national renewal’.

People Watching at the O2 with fantastic Sam Fender last night

Overwhelmed by the depth and power of my late mum Amanda’s translations, having seen three of her texts performed triumphantly by ENO during just these last two months… what a rich artistic legacy and how lucky am I to be able to listen to her work so beautifully performed?!

‘The goal in all life is simply contentment… the plea ‘It is only because I have wanted so much / That I have always been found wanting’ applies to most of the characters I have ever tried to bring to life.’
The late, great James Earl Jones in Poems That Make Grown Men Cry