Category Archives: Lola
Poetry, Lola and Medical Detection Dogs
Some of you may know, but maybe some of you don’t, that I have an assistance dog. A number of years ago, it was suggested by my consultant that I might want to have a pancreas transplant, due to the number of low blood sugars and unconscious episodes I was having, as I have no …
Love Books
There is one thing which every writer acknowledges – to write books you must love books and if you love books you read books and if you read lots of books you can write better books. Lola knows this. Here she is eyeing a cake hungrily at the recent North Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards ceremony, …
Lola, my Literary Assistance Dog…
I hear that there are new dogs on the scene, imposters, claiming to be the first literary dogs. Well, I can assure you that LOLA is the MOST literary dog. Here she is reading children’s poetry as a mere puppy. This is her, totally exhausted after perusing my Chambers Thesaurus. It’s tiring, being a literary …
Clippa (CLPE) Poetry Award!
I received a wonderful invitation to go and see the announcement of the CLIPPA 2015 – the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Poetry Award, on 16th July. This prestigious award is tragically the only one given to an author for a children’s poetry book, or an editor for a children’s anthology. The ceremony was held …
A Grand Appeal!
This year 70 Shaun the Sheep statues have appeared all around Bristol. The Shaun in the City Bristol trail is raising money for The Grand Appeal, The Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity. Each sheep has been painted by a different artist or celebrity, and they make quite a spectacle. We visited the Gromit trail a couple of …
A-Z Reflections
This is the fourth year I have taken part in the A-Z Blog Challenge, and I enjoyed it very much, as usual. Thank you to Arlee and all the other organisers and minions for their hard work. Here is my traditional little photo of my assistance dog in celebration of having finished again: This year has …
Save Liverpool Libraries!
Can there be anything more important or more of a sign of our democracy than a building that contains refuge, learning, opportunity, help, advice, warmth, somewhere to look for job opportunities, apply to college or university, find books to learn how to fix your tap, build a wall, write a successful job application, make origami …
A Panda from Tenerife
This morning I received a panda in the post – complete with bamboo to keep him going on the long journey from Tenerife to the possibly-soon-not-quite-as-United Kingdom. A lovely writing friend crocheted him, thank you Liz Young, and for the update that he is crocheted, not knitted! He is gorgeous, and will I’m sure enjoy his time …
