On Friday I arrive in Scotland at the Gothic Knockderry House Hotel on Shore road skimming loch long. Knockderry was built in the 1800’s. Further up the hill is Cove Park an international centre for Read more [...]

It's the beginning of Summer here in Johannesburg. Everyone is Walking on Sunshine. Heat is a highlight of the week and The City of Gold is gen-er-a-ting at an average of 27 delightful de-wonderful Read more [...]

It was the same beautiful weather on 16th April 2007 when an English Major armed himself then walked into this university, into his class, and in cold blood killed students and teachers and then himself. It was a sustained attack. Not one person died, nor two, nor ten, but thirty two. It became known as The Virginia tech Massacre. Read more [...]

On Thursday morning on Euston Road in central London I was walking a few feet behind a blind man. He was swinging his white cane as if it were a lead on an hyperactive terrier. It was distressing to see. Ahead the tree embedded in the pavement slanted backwards towards us as if pushed by a hurricane. Read more [...]

By Friday a pile of letters from all quarters, from Judges and politicians, arrive upon my desk in congratulations for the gong. I’m so proud. But the lion sleeps. An interest in my biography arrives from a major publisher, another. I need a literary agent - someone who can deal with books and publisher enquiries and commissions. Help. Read more [...]

Afterwards on Sunday night I drove through darkness to a secret location in London - a friend’s house. She passed me a black briefcase.... I clicked the golden latches and they flicked upwards. I opened slowly, slowly opened the case and out poured a shaft of golden light. It bathed my face as I looked on in wonder. Read more [...]

Gil Scott Heron will be coming to Southbank Centre in April on his European tour. It is a highlight of my residency at Southbank that he will be performing in my home. His comeback was first announced nationally in my BBC radio documentary Pieces of A Man in march 2009 after visiting him in New York. Read more [...]

I wave goodbye and outside the shop I watch an old old Jamaican man struggle and lean forward against a near blizzard as he crosses the busy interscection. Sometimes I see people and think of mortality. Read more [...]

And finally Jude Kelly the artistic director of Southbank Centre and my residency sponsored by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has made all of what is here possible and the following. In six hours time I shall be named an MBE for services to literature. Read more [...]

Context is relative and relativity a factor of memory: ever heard the memory trick in how to recall your pin number by unconnected images. I am often advised by the well meaning not to assume that families are great when in fact I don’t. I just value memory is all. But why make it public? Read more [...]