NEWS & EVENTS
FEB 2020
So pleased to announce that I have been awarded the British Library National Life Stories Goodison Fellowship 2020-21
NOV 2019
British Council Vietnam: creative writing and oral history workshop in Ho Chi Minh City
AUG 2019
Two travel writing workshops at The National Centre for Writing, Norwich
MAY 2019
Will be chairing the event Pastoral Symphony at The
Charleston Festival, 3pm Monday 27th May 2019
APRIL 2019
Excited to be on a research trip to Vietnam and involved
in a series of events including Ho Chi Minh City University.
APRIL 2019
Pleased to have a short story in the forthcoming anthology
'Still Worlds Turning' by No Alibi Press (Belfast, June
2019)
MARCH 2019 I am running a series of events at The Museum
of English and Rural Life/University of Reading
as part of my Fellowship: Songwritin with Martin Simpson,
Birds, Gulls and nature writing with Tim Dee.
OCTOBER 2018
I'm part of the Orlando90 celebrations at The Charleston
Trust, reading along with other writers at a 9 hour
read-athon of Virginia Woolf's Orlando.
OCTOBER 2018
I've been invited to give a talk about the writing life
to Year 9s at Bedes School in Sussex.
SEPTEMBER 2018
I am chairing this event at The Charleston Trust with
JULY 2018
My review of Jennifer Joukhadar's The Map of Salt
and Stars is published in The New York Times.
JUNE 2018
I will be spending a week in Greece teaching fiction
on the Creative Writing Summer School in Athens.
MAY 2018
It's the yaer of the Museums. I am so pleased to
announce that I have been awarded the MERL Fellowship
at the Museum of English Rural Life 2018-19. I will
be writing about my local patch, Findon in Sussex,
sheep and landscape.
APRIL 2018
Wonderful news - I will be working with Visual Artist
Helen Barff on a project with Worthing Museum, UK,
exploring the narratives behind clothes from the Museum
Archives, funded by Arts Council England.
JANUARY 2018
Travel piece by me in The Telegraph: Looking for the
wild. The Rise of the Solo Traveller
DECEMBER 2017
My review of S. A. Chakraborty's The City of Brass in
the New York Times
JUNE 2017
My review of Charif Majdalani's Moving the Palace in
the New York Times
MAY 2017
I will be part of PALFEST, travelling to Ramallah,
Jerusalem, Haifa, Hebron and Bethlehem doing an event
at Al Quds University in the West Bank (Jerusalem).
MARCH 2017
I will be taking part in the Landscape and Literature
Day at the Weald and Downland in Sussex on the 9th
FEBRUARY 2017
Paperback of The Photographer's Wife is out in the
States!
JANUARY 2017
Very pleased to announce that I am going to be a writer
in residence at the University of Malta for the month
of Feb 2017
NOVEMBER 2016
I will be at the Write Idea Festival in Tower Hamlets
OCTOBER 2016
Happy news that The Photographer's Wife is coming out
in Chinese with Zhejiang Publishers in Beijing!
JULY 2016
Happy to have started by residency at the Weald and
Downland Open Air Museum, West Sussex. Here is my first
June 2016
A piece about travelling solo in Stella Magazine,
The Telegraph and a piece about family photograph
albums in the Guardian.
Also: I was commissioned to write about the
contemporary art scene in Beijing, China and a
short story inspired by a stay at Raffles Hotel
Beijing.
Events coming up:
Speaking on July 3rd at Modernism-on-Sea.
May 2016
If you like travel and writing and combining
the two, join me for this course in
Brighton at New Writing South starts end of May
Happy to be on the NetGalley list of top 10
books for May
Pleased to be included on this list of Longreads.
***The Photographer's Wife UPCOMING EVENTS***
Kent Festival of Writing, Key Note Speech,
Sat 16th April, Whitstable. Info here.
Brighton Festival 'Home' workshops, Friday
20th May
Steyning Book Shop, 23rd May
Worthing WoW event with Joanna Walsh 5th June
Much Ado Books, Alfriston 11th June
Modernism on Sea Celebration, University of
Bournemouth, Sun 3rd July
March 2016
I'm so pleased to announce that I will be a writer-
in-residence at the Weald and Downland Open Air
Museum in West Sussex for a year, thanks to a
grant from Arts Council England. More info soon.
Enter here for a free givewaway of The Photographer's
Wife - only available for a short time!
February 2016
Kent Festival of Writing, Sat 16th April
Brighton Festival 'Home' workshops, Friday
Worthing WoW event with Joanna Walsh 5th June
Much Ado About Books, Alfriston 11th June
Modernism on Sea Celebration, University of
Landscape and Literature Day at the Weald and
Downland Open Air Museum, West Sussex date tbc
A wonderful review in The New York Times!
THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S WIFE IS OUT IN THE USA!!!
A review in Publishers Weekly.
This essay in LitHub on writing and travelling.
The first couple of reviews for The Photographer's
Wife have come in from the US. This starred review
from Kirkus, and this one from Publishers Weekly.
This month I was invited to be a writer in residence
in Beijing. It was magical. What a city, what a
I will be taking part in an event with
Iain Sinclair and Lee Rourke at the All Saints Centre
Lewes, Sussex on December 8th. We will be talking
Cheltenham Festival proof party
Proofs of The Photographer's Wife are just in,
thanks to Bloomsbury Books. They look amazing.
My review of Elena Ferrante's The Story of the Lost
Child for the Independent on Sunday
News: in November I will be Raffles Hotel writer
And on October 22nd I will be reading at the launch
of Vanguard Short Story Anthology, 7.30pm at
The Bear Freehouse, 296a Camberwell New RD, London
I took part in the feminist festival celebrating
the history of the Matchwomen at Matchfest in
I have an essay about the peculiar despair of hotel
rooms and hotel melancholia in Aeon magazine, just
And a review of Italian author Viola di Grado in the
I have been in Yangon, Myanmar, as a writer-in-
residence for the BCLT/PEN Myanmar translation
A piece I wrote, 'Dirty Talk and Dostoyevsky on the
Night Shift' is in the New York Times today.
My play, 'Without Blinking' will be showing
at Testbed, Battersea, London from the 23-25th April
2015. It's a very intense piece of Immersive Theatre,
written as a commission for Goat and Monkey Theatre
Company and the University of Chichester. Do go! The
actors are amazing and the production team fantastic.
Excited to say that my short story 'In the Middle
of the Air' will be published in the Vanguards
Short Story Anthology in October 2015.
I have been travelling in Azerbaijan on a travel
writing assignment which will be published in the
2015 Lonely Planet travel writing anthology in
My review of Fotini Tsalikoglou's The Secret Sister
published by Europa Editions is in the Independent
Boxing day lounging around? Listen to me on BBC
This month I was in conversation with
Bloomsbury Publishers CEO Nigel Newton at the
opening of Seaford Library, East Sussex.
My story, 'Reaching Bliss' is published in Lonely
Planet's Anthology An Innocent Abroad.
And I have written an Essay for BBC Radio 3, 'I've
Never Told Anyone This Before...' which will be
I also reviewed Louisa Waugh's 'Meet me in Gaza'
for the new issue of Wasafiri.
A piece by me on Marguerite Duras in Five Dials.
An essay by me in the US literary magazine,
Salmagundi in which I write about travelling
in the footsteps of Patrick Leigh Fermor.
This month I am writer in residence at the
British Centre for Literary Translation summer
school in Huangshan, the Yellow Mountains of China.
Exciting news: my second novel 'The Photographer's
Wife' will be published by Bloomsbury UK and US in
Also: A Lady Cyclist will be published in Japan in
December, and rights for a Chinese edition have
My Short Story 'Theory of Flight' is on BBCiplayer
News on my next book coming soon, but
for now I’m pleased to say that I have story
‘Reaching Bliss’ forthcoming in the Lonely Planet
Travel Writing anthology 2014.
I am in Ramallah and Jerusalem this month
and I am working on a commission for a Radio
I am also taking part in this wonderful
event at the Institut Francais celebrating
the work of Marguerite Duras. Info.
My review of Alison MacLeod's 'The Unexploded' is
I have a piece in this literary magazine
dedicated to celebrating the art of the handwritten
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar has been long-
listed for the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin
in January 2014 I will be a writer-in-
residence at the Al Qattan Foundation in Ramallah
I will be at the Istanbul Tanpinar Literature
Festival at the end of October. Details here.
I'm really looking forward to going to the
Manchester Literature Festival on October 11th
to talk with Turkish writer Asli Perker.
A Lady Cyclist is out in India and getting some
great reviews: the Deccan Herald and Time Out
I will be taking part in the Word - A Cooler
Lumpur Festival in Kuala Lumpur on the 22nd June.
I am happy to say I've been long-listed for the
Authors Club Best First Novel Award 2013.
A Lady Cyclist was paperback of the week in the
Observer, reviewed by Bella Bathurst.
I will be going on a research trip to Jerusalem,
staying here at the American Colony Hotel where I
will have access to wonderful photographic archives.
I will be doing a Psychologies Magazine Creative
Writing Workshop(info below) on Thurs 28th Feb.
I will be doing an event at Eastbourne Library in
I will be speaking at a European Writing
Conference in Malta in April and am lucky enough
to be attending a Festival dedicated to all things
bicycle in Puglia, Southern Italy in May.
I designed a cycle route around Shoreham, Sussex,
for Cycle Active Magazine! Here's the link. There
was also a big feature in Sussex Life, but I don't
In February 2013 I will be running a creative
writing workshop with Psychologies Magazine.
I have a story in Lonely Planet's new anthology
My Article 'Sale of the Centuries' can be found
in the November Issue of Vogue, out now.
I will be in Spain, meeting publishers and doing
press in Madrid and then at these events in
Andrew Miller and Suzanne Joinson talk
to Jon Gower at Hayfestival Segovia.
and readings with Felix Valvdivieso, Pedro Lenz
and Carlos Aganzo at Hayfestival Segovia.
Here is my first Spanish review,
I will be doing this event at Edinburgh on the 23rd.
I will also be at Stradbelly festival in Ireland and Hay Segovia in September.
I hit the LA Times bestsellers list!
A lot going on in July as UK publication day is July 5th. I had a launch party!
A mention in Vogue.com 'Britain's best new books'
A few lovely interviews: Foyles, Vanessa Gebbie's blog and Words Unlimited. Thanks all for taking the time.
I'm shortlisted for the Anobii First Book Award
Reviews in the Boston Globe, Book Oxygen, Counterpunch and The Back Cover
and an excerpt in the very beautiful Fleeting Magazine.
I'm on BBC Radio Scotland talking missionaries.
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar is Book of the Month in National Geographic.
I am editor's choice in the New York Times and...
An amazing review in the New York Times Book Review by Sara Wheeler.
Ah, Colorado - how I'd love to visit you. Especially Tattered Cover bookshops. I'm honoured to get a great review and be nominated as a 'VIB' very important book.
& A lovely review on Shelf Awareness
I have an original essay up at Powells.com
A Lady Cyclist is out in the States! Hurrah and hurray. Picture evidence will be posted soon.
I will be doing an event at the London Review of Books Bookshop on 11th May. Details here.
My book is coming out in Denmark, it will be published by Forlaget Turbulenz. Such great news.
Not coming out until November 2012 but available to pre-order here - Lonely Planet 'Better than Fiction' anthology with a story by me, alongside DBC Pierre, Isabel Allende and MJ Hyland.
I will be at UptheJunction with Stella Duffy and Jake Arnott (lucky me!!) on 9th July.
I will be at Hebden Bridge Festival on Monday 2nd July at 8pm alongside Selma Dabbagh and others.
I will be at Hay Festival on Monday 4th June at 4pm.
I've had a great review from Chicks Dig Books (thank you).
& I've had a sneaky peek at one coming up in April from BookList - loveliness.
A new, very nice 4* review here from the States & Bloomsbury deliver A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar proofs across London - by bicycle, and in 1920s dress (ish). Check it out here.
A great review ("absolutely beautifully written") at Dolce Bellezza's very attractive site. The Book Case have mentioned me in their list of MOST BUZZED-ABOUT DEBUTS OF 2012. Times Literary Editor Erica Wagner picked me and A Lady Cyclist as 'one to watch out for in 2012' which was a very good way to start the new year indeed.
A Lady Cyclist has been selected as one of 'Barbara's Picks' at The Library Journal in the US. Described as 'charming and dusky and imbued with a wonderful sense of history and place...'