Words for the Wounded Skydiving Fundraiser

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skydive

The three grannies who run Words for the Wounded, which raises money to help the recovery of wounded troops, have taken it upon themselves to tandem skydive with the fantastic skydiveLondon in Wiltshire to raise funds. They have been joined by a mere child of a bloke at 42, Rob Percy. The grannies insist that being strapped to fit young men has absolutely nothing to do with their decision. Ho hum!

 

If you would like to donate to Margaret Graham, Penny Deacon, Jan Speedie and Rob Percy’s skydive team ‘3 grannies and a man’ (100% of your donation will go to the troops)  please go to www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk where you will find a link or make a cheque payable  to Words for the Wounded, and send it to 12 Woodcote Green, Downley, High Wycombe HP13 5UN

 

Interview With Author Sophie Duffy

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sophie duffyHow did it feel to win the Yeovil Literary Prize, and then a host of others?

I was very surprised when I had an email to say I’d won the Yeovil Prize back in 2006. I see that moment as a breakthrough though it was another 5 years before The Generation Game was published by Legend Press, after it won the Luke Bitmead Bursary in 2010.

Do you have a favourite book that you have written?

I feel closest to the characters in The Generation Game as I lived with them for so long. I still think about them and wonder what they are up to. Particularly Philippa Smith.

What is your writing routine?

I wish I had one! I am not the most organized and have a house full of teenagers which can be a distraction. Supplying food. Washing countless socks. Nagging. Driving around Devon lanes. However, I do now have a room of my own, an office at the bottom of a garden. A glorified shed. It is full of all the tat I’m not allowed to display in the house. I love tat. So I try to get out there in the mornings. But inevitably my plans are scuppered.

How do you come up with your ideas?

They come from small thoughts. A memory. A conversation. A person who passes in and out of your life. Those small thoughts then grow into something more substantial. Something that nags away in the back of my mind, eventually pushing through and saying ‘write me’. I write about families and so I get inspiration from every family I meet, all with their different quirks, make-ups, rules, traditions and skeletons in the cupboard.

Do you ever get writers block?

Not really. I can faff around a lot and resist the act of sitting down and actually writing. But when I do sit down with the intention of writing, the words usually come. If I am struggling, then I read and read and read. It’s all part of the creative act.

How long does it take you to write a book?

Hmm. A while. Eighteen months to two years to get down a decentish first draft. Then maybe another year to rewrite. It’s a long, slow process for me.

What’s next?
I’m rewriting my current novel. I have the plot and the characters but I was telling it wrong. So I have changed the voice and it seems to be working much better. I hope.

Tell us about CreativeWritingMatters.

I used to be an early years teacher and moved on to youth work. I love teaching and was delighted to join Cathie Hartigan along with Margaret James running workshops and courses for www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk in the Exeter area. We also appraise manuscripts and mentor novelists online. Last year we launched the Exeter Novel Prize and had over 250 entries. We now have a shortlist which is being considered by my agent Broo Doherty of DHH Literary Agency. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony in Exeter on 22nd March. Very excited.

Advice for wannabe writers?

Persist. Don’t give up. Be determined. Read. Do a writing class. Join a writing group. Enter competitions. And write whenever and wherever you can.

Best piece of advice you have ever been given?

Be bold.

http://www.sophieduffy.com/
The Generation Game
This Holey Life

 

Nikki Gemmell Interview | Books

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Nikki Gemmell is a talented Australian author, best known for writing the best-selling erotic trilogy The Bride Stripped Bare, With My Body and I Take You. She has recently released her first children’s book, The Kensington Reptilarium. Scarily talented and productive, it was an honour to interview her.

 nikki glemmel interview

You have written eight novels and four works of non-fiction. How do you manage to be so prolific?

 

In that exhausting lifestyle triumverate of the modern harried woman – work/family/social life – something has to give.  I just don’t believe you can have all three.  In my case it’s the social life that’s been sacrificed.  I just get too knackered.  Having kids has also made me much more disciplined.  I don’t spend their school hours unpacking the dishwasher and tidying the house – I write, solidly.  Am constantly gleaning little pockets of time to get it all done (in fact am typing this now, in the car, on the side of the road, having just dropped off my son to a basketball match.)

 

You write a lot about female sexuality. What draws you to write about it?

Honesty connects.  Nowhere more powerfully than in the sexual sphere.  There is so much vulnerability, bewilderment and misconception about sexuality, and it feels exhilarating (and necessary) to write about it utterly truthfully.

 

Lire included you in a list of the fifty most important writers in the world. How did that feel?

It’s a little tuning fork in my head – to try and live up to it!

 

You have written your first children’s book, The Kensington Reptilarium: what made you choose that genre?

Several of my own children who were too addicted to their wretched screens.  I wanted to write a kid’s book that would ignite the flame of reading passion in them, because I just couldn’t get it to catch alight (to my despair and mortification.)  Lo and behold, the Grand Scheme of Maximum Distraction actually worked.

 

Do you have a favourite book that you have written?

Shiver, my first novel – a story extremely close to my heart.  The Bride Stripped Bare – because it transformed my life.  And The Kensington Reptilarium – because it was such enormous, liberating fun.

 

What is your writing routine?

Get the kids, work solidly, then pick them up and give my life over to them.  My trick is to get household chores done around them – never in cherished writing time.

 

How do you come up with your ideas?

I’m constantly on the prowl with a notebook in my handbag – it records ideas, titles, quotes, conversation scraps, magazine articles.

 

Do you ever get writers block?

I used to but not anymore – writing is a business to me now, as well as a passion.  It pays bills, so I just have to plough on or my kids won’t be fed.  I literally can’t afford to be blocked anymore.

 

How long does it take you to write a book?

Usually a couple of years, but I’ve actually written one of them in three weeks (not saying which!)

 

What’s next?

The publishers want a sequel to Kensington Reptilarium, as it did well for them.  Then I’m thinking of an historical novel after that. Something different for me.  I’m addicted to change, trying new things. Not afraid of failure in the slightest. It’s how you progress in life.

 

Advice for wannabe writers?

Tenacity is all. And discipline. Focus. The capacity for hard, gruelling work. Talent only gets you so far.

 

Best piece of advice you have ever been given?

Write as if you’re dying – it’s a great motivator.  It stops you making that seventh cup of tea.

 

http://www.nikkigemmell.com/ 
Nikki Gemmell’s Threesome: The Bride Stripped Bare, With the Body, I Take You
Honestly: Notes on Life

 

Shortlist for Guardian Film Awards announced

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guardianfilmawardsThe shortlist for the Guardian Film Awards, which was based entirely on readers’ votes, has been announced.

Steve McQueen’s slavery drama ‘12 Years a Slave’ dominates across the lists, with nominations for best film, best director, best scene, best line of dialogue and biggest game-changer. It also scores two nominations in the best supporting actor category – for Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o.

Joshua Oppenheimer’s film, The Act of Killing, is also in contention for best film and biggest game-changer – a category which seeks to celebrate innovation in cinema, whether it be technical, creative or financial. It’s up against Gravity, Spike Jonze’s Her, 12 Years a Slave, The Act of Killing, and Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England.

Cate Blanchett and Adèle Exarchopoulos join Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bruce Dern in the race for best actor, while documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer is up for best director alongside Steve McQueen, Spike Jonze, Alexander Payne and Paolo Sorrentino.

Guardian film editor and awards judge Catherine Shoard said: 

“It’s really heartening to see what the readers have done with our longlist. By voting for the likes of Adele Exarchpoloulus in the best actor category, and Paolo Sorrentino and Joshua Oppenheimer for best director, they’re shown that regular movie-goers are capable of an imagination – and an inclusiveness – that seems to be beyond the members of most awards bodies.”


Shortlists


Best film

– 12 Years a Slave
– Gravity
– The Great Beauty
– The Act of Killing
– Blue is the Warmest Colour

Best actor

– Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
– Bruce Dern, Nebraska
– Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
– Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
– Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Colour

Best supporting actor

– Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
– Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
– Jared Leto, The Dallas Buyers Club
– Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
– June Squibb, Nebraska

Best director

– Spike Jonze, Her
– Joshua Oppenheimer, The Act of Killing
– Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
– Paolo Sorrentino, The Great Beauty
– Alexander Payne, Nebraska

Best scene

– Alan Partridge lip-synching to Roachford in the car in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
– The opening scene of Gravity
– The first party in The Great Beauty
– Patsy returning with the soap in 12 Years a Slave
– The struggle back to the car while overdosing in The Wolf of Wall Street

Best line of dialogue

– She was the Picasso of passive-aggressive karate. Irving (Christian Bale) in American Hustle
– Something to eat and some rest; your children will soon enough be forgotten. Mistress Ford (Liza J Bennett) in 12 Years a Slave
– Anxiety, nightmares and a nervous breakdown, there’s only so many traumas a person can withstand until they take to the streets and start screaming. Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) in Blue Jasmine
–  I think if Jesus was here now he’d tip you out of that fucking wheelchair and you wouldn’t get up and walk. Martin (Steve Coogan) in Philomena
– What a story; everything but a fire in the orphanage. Liberace (Michael Douglas) in Behind the Candelabra

Best film festival

– Cannes
– Sundance
– London
– Sheffield Doc/Fest
– Toronto

Best marketing campaign

– Philomena
– Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
– Anchorman: The Legend Continues
– Blue is the Warmest Colour
– World War Z

Biggest game-changer

– The Act of Killing
– Gravity
– Her
– 12 Years a Slave
– A Field in England

Best cinema

Free readers’ vote.

So-bad-it’s-good film

Free readers’ vote.

Lifetime achievement

Judges’ vote.

Gemma Chan Calls For The End Of Page 3

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Actress Gemma Chan labels Page 3 ‘a disgrace’ and throws her weight behind the No More Page 3 campaign.

 

Gemma Chan is currently starring in the film Jack Reacher: Shadow Recruit,  later this year she stars in London Fields with Johnny Depp and new BBC TV show, The Game, with Brian Cox. She is the partner of comedian Jack Whitehall and has appeared in TV shows including Fresh Meat, Dr Who, Sherlock and Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

 

Gemma Chan

In a front page interview with The London Magazine, March issue, out now. Gemma said

 

“A picture of a naked woman isn’t in itself a sexist thing, but it’s the context of having those pictures in the most ubiquitous newspaper and the culture that creates. This campaign is saying that it is sexist and it’s not harmless: it influences boys and girls growing up as to how they view a woman’s place in society. You have a newspaper where all the men are decision makers, the managers, the sports people etc, and as a woman there is page 3 telling you that the most important thing is that you’re viewed as sexually desirable, and in quite a limited way.” The campaigners also point out that page 3 is usually the largest image of a woman in any newspaper on any given day, “which is a disgrace,” says Chan.“Imagine if it was a picture of a teenage guy with his balls out every day; the arguments against it would seem completely self-evident.” 

 

 

The No More Page 3 campaign was started by Lucy Holmes when she bought a copy of the Sun during the 2012 Olympics and found that she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that the largest female image was the Page 3 image even though Jessica Ennis had just gold. Lucy said

 

‘We are thrilled to have Gemma on board. She’s a really energetic supporter who often tweets us and wears her No More Page 3 T-shirt! The pressure really is building now on David Dinsmore, editor of The Sun, he can’t choose to stay stuck in the sexist 1970s for much longer!’

 

No More Page 3 is supported by

  • Girlguiding UK (over 500,000 young members)
  • Mumsnet (Mumsnet is the UK’s largest website for parents, with 4.3 million monthly unique visitors)
  • The British Youth Council (over 220 youth organisations)
  • UK Youth (working with approx. 1 million young people, and 11,000 youth clubs)
  • Members of the Girls’ Brigade England and Wales (just under 20,000 members)
  • The NUT, ATL, NAHT and NASUWT (combining over 780,000 teachers, lecturers and Head Teachers)
  • Unison (our largest union, 1.3 million members)
  • The National Assembly of Wales
  • The Scottish Parliament
  • The Royal College of Midwives
  • The Royal College of Nursing
  • 28 universites and 6 Oxford University Colleges have voted to stop selling The Sun until it drops the page 3 topless images
  • Rape Crisis
  • Woman’s Aid
  • End Violence Against Women’s Coalition

Jessica Ennis-Hill Is Top Inspiration For UK Under-25s

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Jessica Ennis-Hill is top inspiration for UK under-25s

  • Olympic champion heptathlete scored above leaders from politics, business, arts and entertainment
  • Inspiration Index dominated by Generation X reveals millennial generation’s respect for elders
  • Over a third of most inspirational figures are female
  • Hard work and integrity top admired leadership attributes for young people

 

Jessica_Ennis wins 2012Jessica Ennis-Hill has been voted the most inspirational figure by under-25 year olds in the UK, leading a list otherwise dominated by the over-40s.

 

The Inspiration Index is published to coincide with the launch of Starbucks Youth Action which supports young people to carry out a project benefitting their community. The research crowd-sourced nominations for inspirational figures from more than 1,000 16-24 year olds, rating them for inspirational qualities and leadership characteristics, such as: integrity, effort, judgement and having a positive impact on society.

 

It features over 100 public figures from politics, business, sport, the arts and media.  Showing respect for their elders, 89% of under-25-year-olds surveyed admire the achievements of the over-40s over those of their own age group.

 

Among the top 25 role models, more than a third (37%) are women. Ellen DeGeneres, Dame Judi Dench, JK Rowling and Rebecca Adlington all rank highly, with respondents acknowledging their hard work, dedication and genuine approach.

 

Rebecca Adlington, the only under-25 year old nominated in the survey (ranked 24th out of 100), commented on the findings:

 

“It’s exciting to see so many successful women viewed as inspirational to the youth of today. It’s also interesting that our younger generation chose these women as role models, above more popular names – it shows how highly they value hard work and genuine personalities. These are all high achieving women who have shown commitment to working hard to reach their goals, whilst continually learning and developing their trade to build and maintain a career.”

 

The poll shows the characteristics most revered in a leader are hard work and being results-driven e.g. Richard Branson (91%); being genuine, e.g. Mo Farah (92%) and acting with integrity, e.g. Nelson Mandela (88%).

 

Charlotte Hill, chief executive of UK Youth, partners in Starbucks Youth Action said:

 

“The success of Starbucks Youth Action projects demonstrates that young people can make a vital contribution to society and gain valuable leadership skills.  They learn how to pitch their ideas, manage a project and handle a budget while they turn their ideas into reality. We’re incredibly proud of the young people and projects we’ve supported so far, and looking forward to seeing this year’s applicants achieve their aim. ”

 

To find out more and to apply for Starbucks Youth Action 2014 please visit http://www.starbucks.co.uk/responsibility/community/youth-action

 

Applications close on 17 March 2014.

 

The research, which required respondents to nominate people they found inspirational before rating them according to key characteristics, revealed the top 25 to be:

 

1.             Jessica Ennis-Hill

2.             Nelson Mandela

3.             Martin Luther King

4.             Gandhi

5.             Steven Hawking

6.             Ellen DeGeneres

7.             Stephen Fry

8.             Will Smith

9.             Mo Farah

10.           Sir Richard Branson

11.           JK Rowling

12.           Marie Curie

13.           David Attenborough

14.           Bill Gates

15.           Eddie Izzard

16.           Claire Balding

17.           Oprah Winfrey

18.           Professor Brian Cox

19.           David Beckham

20.          Steven Spielberg

21.           Jamie Oliver

22.          Steve Jobs

23.           Sir Winston Churchill

24.          Rebecca Adlington

25.           Dame Judi Dench

 

Suki Waterhouse Wins Model of the Year At ELLE Awards

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Suki Waterhouse wins ‘Model of the Year’ wearing Maria Black at the ELLE Style Awards

 sukiwaterhouse sukiwaterhouseelleawardmariablack

Who: Suki Waterhouse (Actress & Model)

What: Maria Black Jett Gold Necklace

Where: ELLE Style Awards, London

When: 18th February 2014

www.maria-black.com