TALKS

I GIVE TALKS TO SCHOOLS, CLUBS AND SOCIETIES

School visits. My favourite experience is sitting in a cosy circle in a school library with a select group of budding writers of any age, exchanging views on favourite authors, how to dream, the art of writing, and answering questions. I have also addressed year groups.

Talks to adults. I have a varied collection of slides and a wealth of life experience to draw upon for subject matter. I am happy to adapt my talks to suit your requirements.

SOME SUGGESTED SUBJECTS:

• Life in Africa – Then and Now.  An overview with slides, focussing on Kenya from the days of the bushmen through colonial times and independence into the present day.

• Charity – Does it Work?  An exploration into various ways of helping the third world, including charity, inter-governmental aid, investment and volunteering. With some slides.

• Culture Shock.    Stories and slides highlighting cultural and historic experiences in a ten-month “walkabout” round the world.

• Doing Something for Nothing.  What’s in it for me? Depends on what you mean by nothing. An exploration of motives and experiences as a volunteer.

• The Power of Dreaming. You never stop learning: a light-hearted look forwards and back on an upside-down life.

• The Writing Process. Why do you write and how do you start; should it be fact or fiction? Research. Where do you write from; how themes reveal themselves in the course of writing, and how the story takes on a course of its own. I am happy to adapt to your requirements.

• Forty Years of Gestation. The rocky road to publication. Family demands, rejections, criticisms, the advantages and pitfalls of peer review websites, rubbing shoulders with real authors, thinking about self-publication. Finding a publisher.