writer | editor | artist
Rembrandt’s astonishing painting of the anatomy lesson is temporarily housed at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. I couldn’t wait to see this painting. In fact, I’m afraid I rushed through rooms full of many of the other paintings that are temporarily housed there while the Mauritshuis is being renovated just to find it. (I…
I went for a lovely ambling walk in the city of York today, with the charming, ebullient and very engaging local historian, Chris Kelly. I have to make notes for the exam he threatened, but in the meantime, here are some of the very wonderful things I discovered with his assistance (OK, look, I didn’t…
One of my best friends in the whole world taught me about keeping a gratitude journal. It’s not something I do regularly, mostly cos this year I’m too busy keeping my four-minute diary (I learned how from the totally awesome Lynda Barry, who tumblers at The Near-Sighted Monkey). But today, I have to note three…
Today’s little entry in the cabinet of curiosities comes from the royal palace in Amsterdam. The palace squats at the edge of the Dam – the large central plein of Amsterdam. It was built in the mid-seventeenth century as a town hall, and its history as a centre of bureaucracy is reflected in the building’s…
At the risk of being terribly self-centred, today’s object is not one I discovered in a museum, street or gallery. Instead, it arrived by post from the United Kingdom. A box of books. My books. Not just books I own, but books I wrote. I wonder if there any moments more precious than these, for…
This very ordinary little wooden plaque with tin triangle advertising the sale of watches played a role in saving hundreds of people’s lives in Haarlem during the Second World War. During the period of the nazi occupation of Holland, the Ten Boom family ran a safe house above their clock and watch store. Their modest…
God, I think I’m becoming a museum tragic. All of my letters home are filled with the stories I find in them, and in the conversations I rarely have the courage to strike up with strangers. I’m sure I’m boring all my long-suffering friends to death, so instead I should start posting these snippets of…
This image is one of five illustrations Jon Bauer did for the 1908 publication of Helena Nyblom’s Svanhamnen. Bauer was a wonderful Swedish artist and illustrator, best known for his illustrations of folk and fairy tales. His detailed, imaginative and emotionally engaging compositions influenced other artists working on children’s illustration, notably Arthur Rackham, Kay Neilsen…
Next year my novel, Rupetta, will be released through Tartarus Press. It’s been a long time coming, which is a story all on its own. The novel’s main character is a four hundred year old mechanical woman – not a robot – who comes to life/consciousness in 1619. I chose 1619 – November 1619 to…