Vox is a series of bite-size audio recordings in which Royal Literary Fund writers explore topics around writing. Here I attempt to respond to the question of ‘Why I Write’… Listen here
Today’s The World This Weekend on BBC Radio4 focused on climate change, and included a segment on the clean up of the River Thames. I was asked to talk about Downstream and the history of swimmers.
October 2nd, 2019 Lord Leycester Hospital, High Street, Warwick, 10.30am I’ll be talking about Bad Girls and the history of Holloway Prison at the Warwick Words History Festival.
I’m thrilled that an extract from Place of Reeds has been included in Botswana Women Write, an anthology of writing by and about Batswana women. The 55 writers include the legendary Bessie Head and the poet Tjawangwa Dema, as well as many women being published for the first time. The book will be launched […]
On September 14th, I’ll be joining Carl Cattermole and Erika Flowers at the opening event of this year’s Archway With Words festival. I’ll be talking about the history of Holloway, Carl will be talking about his brilliant book Prison A Survival Guide, and Erika will be discussing her powerful art work which includes the new […]
In 1952 Pat Seares, a ‘housewife from London’, was jailed at Holloway Prison because she’d shouted protests after a showing of Rommel the Desert Fox at the Leicester Square Odeon. The film told the story of the Nazi general, and after it had been shown Pat stood up and cried, ‘Do not go to […]
The hit film The Ponds will be aired on BBC Four on May 20th, at 9pm, with the slightly different title of Swimming through the Seasons. Tune in for a ‘heartwarming celebration of eccentricity and sheer bloody-mindedness’ from some ‘unusual people’ (!)
Bad Girls has been longlisted for The Orwell Prize, the UK’s ‘most prestigious’ prize for political writing. Four prizes are awarded, for work which comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition ‘to make political writing into art’. I’m thrilled that the story of Holloway Prison has been recognised as political, and that it has been chosen […]
Filmmaker Anne-Sophie Gomez has made a series of short thematic videos about swimming pools in art. In her latest, Soyez Synchro!, she takes a look at synchronized swimming, which features an appearance by Agnes Beckwith and Daisy Belle. It includes some beautiful archive shots of synchronized swimming routines. Watch the full video here.
The London Review of Books has covered Bad Girls in its latest edition, providing a potted history of HMP Holloway.
The Royal Literary Fund’s ‘In Focus’ presents short films featuring RLF writers. In the latest film, we responded to the question ‘What Book Are You Reading at The Moment?’ Watch the film here
Family Likeness features in a series of book cover rocks to be displayed during The Care Experienced Conference at Liverpool Hope University on April 26th. The rocks were painted by @PoisonPinkDaisy, and include mum’s books Shadow Baby and How to Measure a Cow and dad’s book Relative Strangers. The conference will debate the care […]
I’m thrilled to be starting work at the magnificent Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow, offering bespoke writing advice to students and staff. This is a new partnership between the RLF, the V&A and the Science Museum. The RLF Fellowship scheme was launched 20 years ago, to place established writers […]
June 2nd I’ll be talking about Bad Girls and the history of Holloway Prison at the Derby Book Festival, 12pm-12.55pm.
May 14th 2019 A History of Holloway Prison, The Clerkenwell & Islington Guides Association, Islington Town Hall, London, 6.30pm
April 16th, 2019 Highgate Literary & Scientific Institute, London N6 6BS ‘Bad Girls or Freedom Fighters?’ I’ll be giving a talk on the history of Holloway, from the suffragettes to the women of Greenham Common.
April 14th, 2019 Yarrow Hotel, Ramsgate Road, Broadstairs, 3pm I’ll be talking about the Thanet landscape and the real life figures who inspired Daisy Belle: Swimming Champion of the World as part of BroadstairsLit. Tickets include a prosecco cream tea. The event is held in association with Friends of Oasis, raising money for the […]
March 20th, 2019 I’ll be talking about the history of political prisoners at Holloway Prison at Housmans Bookshop, radical booksellers who have been running since 1945. The event starts at 7pm. Kings Cross, London N1
February 10th 2019 I’ll be joining film directors Patrick McLennan and Samuel Smith for a Q&A at the Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley, following a screening of The Ponds: Still Waters Run Deep. It’s a joyous film that really captures the spirit of pond swimming on Hampstead Heath, where people having been enjoying the waters […]
Last May I was lucky enough to swim with seals in the Scilly Isles, thanks to a trip organised by VisitIslesofScilly.com and Scilly Seal Snorkelling. The islands are home to around 700 Atlantic grey seals, and we provided their evening entertainment. A shortened travel feature appears in the Mail on Sunday.
RLF Fellows feature in regular, bite-sized audio recordings, exploring issues related to the writing life. Here’s mine on ‘How I Write’. Listen here
The Ponds: Still Waters Run Deep follows the swimmers of Hampstead Heath over the course of a year. It’s a joyous film that really captures the spirit of pond swimming, at a place where people having been enjoying the waters since the early 1800s. Watch a trailer here. The film, directed and produced by […]
December 12th Vote 100 Women and prisons. Portcullis House, London. 6pm When I started writing Bad Girls a few years ago I never imagined I would take part in a panel discussion at Portcullis House during Vote 100, Parliament’s year long celebration of the 1918 Representation of the People Act. I shared the stage […]
An interview in the Ham & High about the women who inspired Daisy Belle, ‘the story of a courageous Victorian swimmer, who races down the Thames, floats in a whale tank, and tries to swim across New York harbour.’
Hornsey Road Baths in Islington, north London, were once known far and wide for staging performances by international swimming champions, which was why I decided to use the baths as a setting in Daisy Belle. They opened in 1892 and famous performers included Jules Gautier and Annette Kellerman. I describe some of their history […]
‘Set in a moment of the 19th century when showbusiness fell in love with swimming, young Daisy Belle’s aptitude for the water is spotted early by her father, who stages displays of ‘natation’… Based on the life of the largely forgotten Agnes Beckwith, this is an excellent addition to the literature of swimming and its […]
November 22, 2018 Edith Thompson, executed at Holloway Prison in 1923 for a crime she didn’t commit, was today reburied at her family’s plot in the City of London Cemetery. Edith was hanged after her lover, Freddy Bywaters, killed her husband Percy Thompson. Her death was one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British […]
November 1st, 2-5pm, Kingston University, Knights Park, Main Lecture Theatre I took part in a Women and Prison workshop and symposium day at Kingston University on November 1st, to talk about the background to Bad Girls, the different class divisions at Holloway Prison in Victorian and Edwardian times, and the legacy of the site […]
The Ham & High covers the Unbound Courageous Women bookshop tour.
October 12th I joined Yasmeen Khan on BBC Radio London to chat about Daisy Belle and the history of swimming in London. Listen here (1hour, 8 mins into the programme)