When US philatelist Eric Carlson found an unusual stamp on EBay, he ‘stumbled upon the remnants of a forgotten bit of world history, about a stranded convoy that built a community at the center of a war.’ Eric had discovered the Great Bitter Lake Association. New podcast 99% Invisible in the USA have produced an …
Since I wrote Stranded in the Six-Day War, people from around the world have been getting in touch with me. They tell me about their activities to keep alive the story of the ships stranded in the Suez Canal for eight years. The GBLA Last week, Peter Valdner sent a photo of the annual gathering …
The client studies his reflection in the hand-held mirror. His hair looks good on top but needs a little more trimming elsewhere. ‘Anyone got the number 2?’ calls the barber. After another careful 10 minutes’ work, the young Ghanaian has a perfect haircut – 1 cm on top and neatly shaved around the back and …
‘What if you had to leave your home and you could never go back? What do you think that would be like? ‘For millions of Syrians and other people from around the world, these are the question they face. The current desperate situation in their homelands and the mass migrations from the Middle East is …
Science vs art ‘I feel deeply that the adversarial idea of science versus art is a false dichotomy’ says RLF Consultant Fellow Doug Johnstone on the RLF Consultant Fellows blog. And although some scientists may not see themselves as creative, inspiration is key to scientific writing. Fiction vs non-fiction I feel the same way about …
Feedback on our writing can arouse strong emotions. RLF Consultant Fellow Anne Wilson explains how we can use feedback to improve our work.
This week’s post from RLF Consultant Fellow Amanda Swift: Can you express the central idea or argument of what you’re planning to write, in a couple of sentences spoken aloud? This short but effective exercise works for both academic and creative writing. It will test the project’s roadworthiness before you start. You don’t need to …
Reading books is one of the most important routes to academic success for children, yet 1 in 8 disadvantaged children don’t own a single book. That’s what Maz Evans from Book Buddy explained at the Bookseller Children’s Conference in October 2018. Library closures The real solution to the problem is for the government to …
Yesterday, I was delighted to be selected as the winner of the 2018 Educational Writer’s Award, organised by ALCS and the Society of Authors, for Far From Home: Refugees and Migrants Fleeing War, Persecution & Poverty. The shortlist included a fine selection of books on themes of great interest and importance to young people: loos …