Everyday life in extraordinary worlds

An old man lives at the bottom of my garden. His name is Robert Barkus, or Bakehouse, or Bagust. Nobody is quite sure. But I often sense him around when I’m gardening, and I’ve found out a fair bit ab

This month’s story, ‘The Surrogate’ by Tessa Hadley, is a study of two men through the eyes of one woman. The title suggests that one man is a surrogate for the other, but is it as simple as that? As

When the Fireflies Dance is set in Lahore, Pakistan and a significant challenge when writing it was to ensure the reader was able to place themselves in the setting. I wanted to be able to transport t

In the first part of our examination of The Building Block of Dialogue, we looked at how to build a Scene of Dialogue. A Scene of Dialogue contains the elements which supplement the words spoken by th

We can’t predict exactly how you’ll be feeling as the year comes to a close, but our best guess is that you’ll be in need of a breather. Because for many of us, 2025 has not been painless. Political t

We often feel we don’t have the time and headspace to be original or inventive, but art historian and author Katy Hessel says everyone can bring more creativity to their everyday. Here, she tells us how