I’d hoped to write something about Second World War poet Keith Douglas yesterday, since it was the eleventh of November, but today will have to do instead. Besides, I’m sure I’ll mention him on a hundred more blog posts, because he’s such an enormous inspiration.
A few times people have asked me what my influences were when writing [...]
Ali Shaw’s Blog
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One Day Late
The Bones of Old Monsters
Soon, if your pick your way past the threshing equipment, the stuffed downland wildlife and the mountain of Thomas Hardy exhibits in Dorset’s county museum, you’ll find a fitting neighbour for the Ooser. You may have heard on the news about the gargantuan sea monster that’s been newly discovered off the coast down there. Already [...]
Charles VI got there before I did
I thought you might be interested in this, the glass delusion. I didn’t know about this when I wrote the novel, but one of the proofreaders at Henry Holt (the US publishers of The Girl with Glass Feet) picked up on it. There I am thinking I’ve been reasonably original, when along comes King Charles [...]
Edgar Allan Poe’s Funeral, Part Two
Edgar Allan Poe is having his second funeral this Sunday. I’ve just posted about it on my Litro blog, but it’s such a splendidly odd thing that I wanted to bring it to your attention here too. I’ve posted a few related links over at Litro, but type “Poe Funeral” into Google and you’ll find [...]
The Library In The Woods
This is a bit of an excuse to tell you about what I did on my holidays, but I couldn’t resist showing you some pictures of the library in the woods at End Of The Road. It’s just such a great idea, these bookshelves affixed to trees in decorated woodland. They had the bad Victorian version [...]
With Fishes’ Eyes
I went to see District 9 last night and can’t really rate it highly enough. It’s like a sci-fi version of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, and it’s gripping from start to finish. The only downside is how impactful it is. I dreamed all night of my feet turning into slime and insect claws, which now I [...]
Roald Dahl
I was just getting excited about Roald Dahl over at my litro blog, and came across this, which is really good fun. Listen to it when you’re tucked up in bed and the wind is howling outside.
Poor Hans
For some reason, my post about Hans-My-Hedgehog has this week attracted some three hundred spam comments, which I have been deleting by the bucketload. It’s led me to write a big long list of no-go keywords that this blog will look for in a comment and cage in a kind of virtual quarantine. That list is [...]
Guardian First Book Award 2009
I’m stunned and delighted to have been longlisted today for the Guardian First Book Award 2009. I don’t really know what to say, except that it’s an honour to be included on a list so exciting and diverse.
You can read the Guardian’s article about it here.
DZIEWCZYNA O SZKLANYCH STOPACH
I had the lovely experience last week of receiving some copies of Dziewczyna o szklanych stopach, which is the Polish edition of The Girl with Glass Feet. Seeing your work in another language is both marvellous and surreal. That David Copperfield thing holds true - that a book feels like a child leaving home for [...]
