This past month I’ve been to Sweden, Canada Indonesia Kenya and England. They’ve all been wonderful. One highlight for me was speaking to the young people at The London Schools and The Black Child Awards at The Houses of Parliament organised by Diane Abbott. Chatting to Kate Mosse in Vancouver could be a highlight. Receiving a   warm-hearted postcard from Hilary Mantel  was nice, shortly before she made history by winning the Booker Prize for the second time. Taking time to hang with Dinaw Mengistu in Nairobi could also be a highlight. Inbetween travels I’ve been filming a pilot project for Channel 4 TV with Clearstory. It’s been a moving and powerful  learning curve. I’m absolutely loving it.  My first Ted Talk went live too thanks in particular to Tracey Chevalier .  Looking forward to recording Great Lives for BBC Radio 4  on my chosen subject of Prince Alemayhu. And tomorrow I’m with the great Michael Rosen in Oxford talking about telling stories. And I guess that’s what blogging does. I’m just confirming existance at a given place at a given time. The Christams stampede is coming. I can hear the stampeding horses in the distance.

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