Based on the advice of writers from Stephen King to David Foster Wallace, Susan Sontag, Henry Miller, Zadie Smith and many more, when I cannot write my designated daily quota of 500 words on one subject, I turn to reading. I scour the net, my bookshelves and every local bookshop, in search of inspiration, thirsty for facts that might ultimately furnish each of my projects with added authenticity.
The lost art of letters
Dying to get here: Blog Action Day 2013
Nearly 1,000 people die every year in the Mediterranean Sea, which is fast becoming the graveyard of Europe. Why would anyone expose themselves to this continual cycle of trauma? Often they have no choice, it’s either face death in one country or risk it to another, in the hope that life is surely better elsewhere. Isn’t this something that we all have a right to hope for – a life unfettered by violence, harassment, poverty and daily hardship?
Past matters: Writing other people's history
Documenting the past comes with a frightening number of challenges that at times beg the question, why bother? With historical writing, the challenges are even more pronounced, particularly the lack of people and sources against which to check your facts. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either the greatest investigative adventure or a guaranteed route to sleepless nights as the unknown quantities swirl around your tormented mind.
The thinking woman's narrative
Women don’t make good researchers. Feminism needs re-branding. Education will only give girls a misplaced sense of power. These are just some of the judgements pedalled in recent debates about the gender gap. The common denominator seems to be the idea that women are neither capable nor worthy of changing the social landscape which, according to those harbouring such archaic views, they should simply accept as their lot. Thankfully, the many who disagree have something far more interesting to say.
The raw matter of the examined life: Straw Dogs by John Gray
If you follow Socrates' line of thought, the unexamined life is not worth living. But what if, when you examine it, it’s worth even less? That is John Gray’s conclusion; in fact it’s the beginning, middle and end of his entirely nihilistic polemic, Straw Dogs, in which he catalogues a history of rapacious human activity, taking down science, philosophy and everything in between.
How to overcome fear & procrastination aka writer's block
Procrastination has always been a problem for writers, and at no time more than in the age of instant digital or technological gratification. There are infinite distractions at the tip of your fingers, which instead of being used to expel an eloquent stream of original thinking, are reduced to fumbling across the internet.
What's your story? Top tips for content marketing
Whether you’re a journalist, a fiction writer, a biographer, a marketer or a corporate PR pro, the art of telling a good story will invariably lie at the heart of what you do. Attracting the attention of your audience and then holding them captive is an invaluable skill. Stories that inspire, inform, entertain and move are undoubtedly the best way to engage with people and make an impression.
Human rights, human wrongs: Who cares?
I recently returned from a trip to Geneva, the human rights headquarters of the world, you might say. Only what struck me from the people I met, the stories I heard and the places I visited was not the undeniable force of activism and political will that characterises the city, but the sad sense that for the people it represents, the human rights movement is losing its grip.
Understanding the disturbed mind
World Humanitarian Day: Changing the world one conversation at a time
Is there one word that sums up what the world needs more of? That’s the question posed by the UN for this year’s World Humanitarian Day, when it pledges to “turn those words into currency”. Change, peace, hope and teamwork (the latter as favoured by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon) spring instinctively to mind. Along with justice and equality, they are among the trending suggestions in the run up to 19 August. But just how realistic is it to think that words have the power to accelerate global change to the extent that is needed?
Bearing witness to the lives of others
It is famously said that history is written by the winners. Everyone likes a hero, after all. But the reality of the past, as events actually unfolded, so often tells a different story. The story of the lesser known though no less heroic individuals whose role was driven neither by glory nor politics, but by circumstance.
Failure: The great unexpected result
Memories and the value of narrative truth
Memories are the defining feature of human identity. They underlie the decisions that help determine our future, they colour our reflections on the past, and they characterise our life stories. But our headspace is notoriously fluid, susceptible to damage, change and loss. The stories that we weave together from what we can recall, while an inimitable gateway into our personalities, are not entirely true.
Welcome to Britain: The Ugandan Asian Diaspora
On 5 August 1972 – informed by the census that had been carried out the previous year – Idi Amin announced that he had a dream in which it was revealed to him that some 60,000 Asians who were not classed as Ugandans (defined as such by a convoluted arbitrary lineage) must leave Uganda, declaring, “Asians came to Uganda to build the railway, the railway is finished, they must leave now”.