My second novel, The River Brings The Sea was published in December 2025. My debut, One Scheme of Happiness was published in 2020 by Retreat West Books. In August that year it was longlisted for Not The Booker Prize. I also write poetry and short stories.
My first visit here for far too long – to the Troubadour, the home of the rather wonderful Coffee House Poetry evenings run by the lovely Anne-Marie Fyfe (who remembered my name – an enviable skill). And it feels like a home-coming, so many familiar faces, other poets/writers to talk to and a selection of … More Last night at the Troubadour
Why is it that even when I know deadlines for submissions and competition entries are looming, I leave everything till the last minute, and then it’s a mad rush to edit my writing, or fill in the forms, or write the covering letter? I’m not so absorbed in my work that I’m not aware of the passing days – right in … More Deadlines and dosh
This week I’ve been reading a book my son gave me. Published in 1988 and winner of a Betty Trask prize, Anita Brookner called it – ‘Poised, startling and innovative, A Case of Knives marks the debut of an astonishingly accomplished new writer’. Written against a background of animal rights activism and the AIDS epidemic … More A Case of Knives by Candia McWilliam
Fantastic session in the Festival Hall with tutor Emily Midorikawa discussing how to use dialogue in fiction – what to say and when to say it; when to use reported speech and when to leave it out altogether. We looked at two short stories and analysed how each writer develops the story through dialogue, then Emily … More How to write dialogue
Ali Thurm 