It's the what the driver said that stuck in my mind. We were talking about the hay festival and Hay on Wye, the town. "Can't move for bookshops" he says. "there's the second second first world..." he stops and starts again "there's a bokshop that is the second first...." he start again " it's the worlds bookshop first no the second bookshop". I try to help him "oh the worlds first bookshop was here". he grips the wheel of the land rover tighter "no! its the second second bookshop in the world. No No No". This is all getting a little intense I thought. "Beautiful weather" I say as we swish through the ribbon like lanes. There's a long long silence. Read more [...]

The event gets curiouser and curiouser. “How would you like to be introduced” asked the MC and organiser while I was signing the award certificates on stage five minutes before the event was to begin. I was tempted to say “How about, Lemn is partial to the odd spot of animal buggery but on weekends he likes to make book covers out of hard core pornographic magazines which he sells on his stall at the school Fayre and farmers markets”. Read more [...]

It's going to be a gorgeous day. There's a grey morning sky and the night rain leaves the streets shiny. Sometimes I like to look at puddles and only see the reflection. When I do this the world is infinitely more interesting. It's as if the puddles are the real world and we are walking in the bits inbetween. There's a large puddle and it reflects the sky. If I jumped in the puddle would I fall through the sky. There's a childrens poem waiting to be written. Read more [...]

My next play is to be published next year. The manuscript must be ready next month - it'll be out in March. I do the occasional interview on television. I love teaching. I don’t do too much cause as a visiting writer (in teaching terms) I never want it to lose its shine. There's been some very special teaching experiences this month. When it stops being special for me I will stop doing it. The teaching I mean. Today is the first free day I have had for at least a month. It’s been busy. Read more [...]