Skip to content
When The Words Won’t Come

When The Words Won’t Come

As an author what I dread most is the blank page — it is the curse of the creative writing profession.You sit down at your computer in readiness to produce...
Haunted By Gesualdo

Haunted by Gesualdo

Ihave often heard playwrights asked what inspired them to write a play. Answers vary. They were invited to write to a brief in collaboration with a director or company. They...
A Mirror To Life

A Mirror To Life

I used to resent books that required me to make a lot of effort. This was especially the case when reading poetry: I felt I could tell at a glance...
These Tangled Webs

These Tangled Webs

Last week I spent the morning working with a composer on a contemporary oratorio, ‘Song of Dina’ that meshes music, spoken word and song. A week before, I spent a...
The Rabble Across The River

The Rabble Across The River

For a playwright, the opportunity to write a Community Play may arise only once in a career. Mine came in 1995, when I was hired to write the play which...
Collaborating With Other Writers

Collaborating With Other Writers

I ‘fell into’ writing at ArtsEd. drama school as I couldn’t find any Black, northern monologues to perform, so I wrote my own. With the encouragement of my teacher I...
Should I Have Heard Of You?

Should I Have Heard Of You?

In an article for Collected a few months ago, Katharine Grant wrote about her dread of the question ‘where (as a writer) do you get your ideas?’ I have been...
Under The Influence

Under The Influence

Ah, that sudden shift in perception, that moment of lucidity and unbidden clarity after a few glasses of wine. The cosy, half-inebriated sense of having discovered, finally, the knowledge that...
In Praise Of Dialect

In Praise Of Dialect

When I teach first year Creative Writing students we always have a session on voice. I use extracts from Irish, Scottish, Geordie and Afro-Caribbean writers to illustrate how dialect can...
Nearest And Dearest

Nearest And Dearest

When I set out to tell the story of my parents’ divorce in my first book, Running for the Hills, I was certain that I did not want to interview...
Back To Top