It simply never occurred to me that I could or ever would become a writer. My working-class roots put it… It simply never occurred to me that I could or ever would become a writer. My working-class roots put it well beyond any horizon of mine. I came to writing late in life, having never for a moment thought I would become a published novelist. It simply never occurred to me that I could or ever would become a writer. My working-class roots put it well beyond any horizon of mine. The post

'It simply never occurred to me that I could or ever would become a writer. My working-class roots put it well beyond any horizon of mine.'I came to writing late in life, having never for a moment thought I would become a published novelist. It simply never occurred to me that I could or ever would become a writer. My working-class roots put it well beyond any horizon of mine.

立春日禊亭偶成 ﹝宋﹞张栻 律回岁晚冰霜少，春到人间草木知。 便觉眼前生意满，东风吹水绿参差。

It was impossible for me to go into a stately home (a treat for a seven year old) and not… It was impossible for me to go into a stately home (a treat for a seven year old) and not enquire whether there had been any blood shed, or bones found. It was impossible for me to go into a stately home (a treat for a seven year old) and not enquire whether there had been any blood shed, or bones found in the priest hole. Becoming a crime journalist and then a crime novelist was always on the

'It was impossible for me to go into a stately home (a treat for a seven year old) and not enquire whether there had been any blood shed, or bones found.'It was impossible for me to go into a stately home (a treat for a seven year old) and not enquire whether there had been any blood shed, or bones found in the priest hole. Becoming a crime journalist and then a crime novelist was always on the cards.

As pilgrims we were captivated by the landscape as it changed around us, concerned with basic facts of where we… As pilgrims we were captivated by the landscape as it changed around us, concerned with basic facts of where we would eat and sleep. I had no desire for a fictional world. As pilgrims we were captivated by the landscape as it changed around us, concerned with basic facts of where we would eat and sleep, and charged with the encounters and conversations that shaped each day. I had

'As pilgrims we were captivated by the landscape as it changed around us, concerned with basic facts of where we would eat and sleep. I had no desire for a fictional world.'As pilgrims we were captivated by the landscape as it changed around us, concerned with basic facts of where we would eat and sleep, and charged with the encounters and conversations that shaped each day. I had no desire for a fictional world.

那一世—仿仓央嘉措《那一世》作者：陆正艮朗诵：莹秋 那一天我在北上的路上蓦然看见你回眸的灿烂笑颜 那一月我沉浸在相思网中吐丝不为织网只为延伸能触摸你的指尖 那一年我穿越无数山川湖海不为探索只为靠近你的温暖 那一世我走南走北走四方不为谋业只为途中与你相见 那一夜我独坐星空彻夜未眠不为前程只想抓住你回眸的气息 那一月我走在熙攘的街头不喜热闹只为寻你的身影和微笑 那一年我的思绪飘向你的方向 不只想念 还想触及你的温柔 那一世我轮回在时光的长河不为永生只为与你再次相遇 只是就在那一瞬间我忘却了所有抛弃了信仰舍弃了轮回只为那曾在北上回眸的笑颜依旧如初见时的灿烂

There was no one in the once-a-monastery-now-a-restaurant but us. A young couple came in with their baby, only to leave… There was no one in the once-a-monastery-now-a-restaurant but us. A young couple came in with their baby, only to leave after a hushed conversation with the waiters. There was no one in the once-a-monastery-now-a-restaurant but us — maybe the festival had booked the whole restaurant, which didn’t strike me as out of keeping with the general oddness of this globetrotting

'There was no one in the once-a-monastery-now-a-restaurant but us. A young couple came in with their baby, only to leave after a hushed conversation with the waiters.'There was no one in the once-a-monastery-now-a-restaurant but us — maybe the festival had booked the whole restaurant, which didn’t strike me as out of keeping with the general oddness of this globetrotting cohort of writers and translators.

Words are a re-ordering of dream, an attempt to drag down the superconscious into the good old conscious, where theatres… Words are a re-ordering of dream, an attempt to drag down the superconscious into the good old conscious, where theatres are and publishing happens. Words are a re-ordering of dream, an attempt to drag down the superconscious into the good old conscious, where theatres are and publishing happens. But too much world-order and the dream-power is lost. I have to stop, dip

'Words are a re-ordering of dream, an attempt to drag down the superconscious into the good old conscious, where theatres are and publishing happens.'Words are a re-ordering of dream, an attempt to drag down the superconscious into the good old conscious, where theatres are and publishing happens. But too much world-order and the dream-power is lost. I have to stop, dip back down into sleep.

A comic squib about domestic angst, which began ‘There’s a nasty niff in the downstairs loo’, developed its own agenda…… A comic squib about domestic angst, which began ‘There’s a nasty niff in the downstairs loo’, developed its own agenda... A comic squib about domestic angst developed its own agenda and finally clinched itself in a line, ‘For they are in the world, and you are not’. The tribute to my late partner which I had struggled for two years to write. It had written itself. Or

'A comic squib about domestic angst, which began ‘There’s a nasty niff in the downstairs loo’, developed its own agenda...'A comic squib about domestic angst developed its own agenda and finally clinched itself in a line, ‘For they are in the world, and you are not’. The tribute to my late partner which I had struggled for two years to write. It had written itself. Or had it?

I do believe that, alongside metaphors, allegories and similes, a writer’s life itself is but another literary device to be… I do believe that, alongside metaphors, allegories and similes, a writer’s life itself is but another literary device to be incorporated into their work. I do believe that, alongside metaphors, allegories and similes, a writer’s life itself is but another literary device to be incorporated into their work, particularly when their own lives start feeling like a cluster

'I do believe that, alongside metaphors, allegories and similes, a writer’s life itself is but another literary device to be incorporated into their work.'I do believe that, alongside metaphors, allegories and similes, a writer’s life itself is but another literary device to be incorporated into their work, particularly when their own lives start feeling like a cluster of meaningless oxymorons. Difficult? Enormously so.

Of the origin stories I read the one I liked best was about Jimi Hendrix releasing a pair of parakeets… Of the origin stories I read the one I liked best was about Jimi Hendrix releasing a pair of parakeets in Carnaby Street. The origin story I liked best was about Jimi Hendrix releasing a pair of parakeets in Carnaby Street. Hendrix spent several months in the city before his death at the age of twenty seven. ‘There’s no place like London’, he said. ‘It’s like a kind of a fairyland.' The

'Of the origin stories I read the one I liked best was about Jimi Hendrix releasing a pair of parakeets in Carnaby Street.'The origin story I liked best was about Jimi Hendrix releasing a pair of parakeets in Carnaby Street. Hendrix spent several months in the city before his death at the age of twenty seven. ‘There’s no place like London’, he said. ‘It’s like a kind of a fairyland.'

New contributor Sam Calhoun of Elkmont shares a poem he wrote, inspired by the canyons of Bankhead National Forest in Alabama.