Author Archives: Yasmin Keyani

BOOKS MAKE A ROOM LOOK MORE BEAUTIFUL

Alice Walker wrote a book called ‘Horses make the landscape look more beautiful’  And I agree, but would further say that if you don’t have access to a horse, books make a room look more beautiful. Books and everything that they represent: information, entertainment, anger, love and joy, are portable receptacles of our deepest feelings,Continue reading “BOOKS MAKE A ROOM LOOK MORE BEAUTIFUL”

Movable Type and Editing

For every writer there is a wonderful moment you look forward to. It is when you finally finish your first novel. The delight of writing ‘The End’ and knowing that it’s done! The joy! The chance now to send it to friends to read and to publishers to publish! All that will immediately happen. Sadly,Continue reading “Movable Type and Editing”

NaNoWriMo or not? And was Jack Kerouac doing a similar thing…

Jack Kerouac became famous for writing his iconic novel, On the Road, while living on Benzedrine, coffee and pea soup (made by his wife Joan) on a road trip over thirty days. He wrote on one long sheet of paper, using tracing paper he’d cut to size for his typewriter and then taped together so he wouldn’t haveContinue reading “NaNoWriMo or not? And was Jack Kerouac doing a similar thing…”

The ‘Joy’ of Constraint

(Not to be confused with The Joy of Sex, The Joy of Painting and The Joy of Cooking…) I imagine you know what ‘joy’ means, but ‘constraint’ is trickier isn’t it?  The dictionary definition is a ‘limitation or constriction’. Which could be unpleasant or, I’m suggesting here, sometimes liberating. (Oh and I love that pictureContinue reading “The ‘Joy’ of Constraint”

April is Shakespeare

April 2016 will be steeped in all things Shakespearean as William Shakespeare (1564–1616) died four hundred years ago and everybody is (still) talking about it. Which is good as everyone should know who Shakespeare was and what an enormous debt the modern world owe to his work. What not everyone might know is that someone soContinue reading “April is Shakespeare”

Agatha Christie – still the Queen of Crime

January is traditionally a time for new things, new ideas, new starts. It makes sense to do this as it follows closing the old year and moving on. Named after the Roman god Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions and from the from the Latin word, ianua, which means ‘door’, this is the doorContinue reading “Agatha Christie – still the Queen of Crime”

Dodie Smith – The Shop Girl Writer

On the last day of November the weather has gone to rain and wind. Good weather for hunkering indoors and reading and writing. It got me thinking about all this year’s literary prizes (and there were a lot) and how some of the results of those prizes won’t be known until 2016. Writing for competitionsContinue reading “Dodie Smith – The Shop Girl Writer”

Albert Camus: November is Absurd

November has sneaked up and closed the curtains. The clocks have changed, but the evenings are still drawing in. Halloween has been and gone and bonfire night too and that’s just in the first week. All a bit spooky and dark and fitting then that 7 November is the birth date of Albert Camus (1913-1960)Continue reading “Albert Camus: November is Absurd”

Katherine Mansfield

October is the birth month of Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) a modernist short story writer born to a socially prominent family in New Zealand. Her real name was Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp and it is telling that she chose to change her name and rid herself of some of the upper class trappings of the family toContinue reading “Katherine Mansfield”