I often wonder how girls and women coped in the past, imprisoned in domesticity and denied intellectual lives. The liberation of girls and women - the thing which means we can study alongside boys and men, and have the same careers - is, in the grand historic scheme of things, so recent. I think tha… more »
A couple of weeks ago - I know, finger on the pulse - I attended a Society of Authors conference, at which the guest speaker was Philip Pullman. In fact, and this is quite the thing, at dinner I sat at the very same table as PP and Francesca Simon, of Horrid Henry fame. I'm afraid I cannot report on… more »
At the end of last week, I spent three days at the ShoutSouth! festival of children's writing at London South Bank University. Sponsored by Derwent, and by Pea Green Books, the festival is a gathering of authors and illustrators of children's books, alongside about just over a hundred students. Topp… more »
I watched the first episode of the new series last night. To be honest, I was disappointed by the ending of the first series. The unveiling of the killer seemed to come from nowhere, and not in a good way. Could it be that the writers were similarly dissatisfied with their handiwork? Because the beg… more »
I went to see Interstellar at the cinema in Glasgow this weekend. As usual, I have to silence the dry old demon who hisses in my ear, 'But are they getting the physics right??? How much of this science stuff they're spouting is true, and how much made up?' I'm not even sure these are valid questions… more »
It’s four months and 13 days since we moved back to Britain from Beijing after thirteen years on the other side of the world. Here are three things that strike me in my new old homeland.
1. The sky is frequently grey but always beautiful. Okay, you think I’m mad. But unless you’ve stepped outsid… more »
Apologies if I sound a little frazzled. We’ve just moved house. And I don’t mean just around the corner, we’ve moved half way across the world from Beijing to London after thirteen years in China (long story). When we were about leave Beijing, I told my children, who have grown up in China and who w… more »
Three days to the release of Splintered Light. A first glimpse of Leah:
The girl lies fast asleep on her back with her arms flung above her head as though she's been surprised. She hasn't pulled the curtains, and light from the street falls upon her face. If someone were to stand in her room and … more »
My new book, Splintered Light, comes out next week. It’s about three teenagers, Leah, Linden and Charlie, who don’t know each other, but whose lives collide dramatically twelve years after Leah’s mother was murdered in a local park. One of these three is a young man called Linden. At 17, he’s a… more »
This week I had fun at the Beijing Bookworm Literary Festival meeting authors from far and wide. I talked about YA literature on a panel with the prolific and funny Australian writer Nick Earls and Chinese writer Ye Gang and we all mulled the question of whether Young Adult literature had any respon… more »