Tag: writers

Thinking about writing!

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So I’ve had the crazy idea to maybe write a novel? I mean, it’s not as if I’ve never thought about it before or haven’t been told ‘oh, you like English and love to read, maybe you should just write your own book!’

I also don’t think it would amount to much, but maybe it would be nice to explore that side of my love for literature? Ah conflicted!

Anyway, I think I might use this space to just throw some bits and pieces out there and I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Any tips would be really welcome!

xo

Deeds not words.

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Happy International Women’s Day to all!

In 2018 I wrote about a badass woman Princess Sophia Duleep Singh who led an incredible life. If you don’t know who she is please give it a read!

This IWD I want to pay homage to one of the original suffragettes – Emmeline Pankhurst.

Emmeline Pankhurst statue in Manchester.

Seen by many as a radical and a threat, Emmeline was a woman who refused to back down and allow women to be mistreated after seeing the dire conditions that many worked in in Manchester’s workhouses. Her methods may have been extreme, and their effectiveness has been disputed, but there is no denying that her work was crucial and seminal in leading the movement and gaining votes for women.

Born and raised in Manchester, it’s amazing to see this statue everytime I make my way into the city centre. It genuinely brings a smile to my face watching and seeing people young and old surrounding the statue. It gives people, especially young boys and girls, a chance and an opportunity to discover a part of Manchester’s history that went on to change the entire UK.

Feminists don’t wear pink

“Feminists Don’t Wear Pink” is a collection of short stories and essays from women across Hollywood from actresses to teenage activists. They l tell their story of their personal relationship with feminism and what it means to be a woman. For me, it shows is how far we have come as women and a society, but still how far we have yet to go.

There are still 31 million girls in the world not in school and 17 million of them probably never will. 1 in 5 women in the UK have experienced sexual assault – but these are just from the brave women who have come forward to report it. And at the rate the word is going it will take over 100 years just to close the gender parity gap.

Emmeline Pankhurt fought over 100 years ago for the rights for women, but in order to make the world a fairer and just place we must all come together to create it.

Let us all incite this meeting to rebellion.

xo.

One of my favourite quotes!

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Ah quotes, quotes, quotes. All the quotes. Quotes for daaaaays.

“And though she be but little, she is fierce.” – William Shakespeare [A Midsummers Nights Dream]

This is one of my all time favourite quotes and one of the things I live by and try to embody. In fact, before I knew of this quote I introduced myself at university as “small yet mighty.”

For me, this quote shows that there is nothing to be afraid of from being labelled as ‘fierce’. I may be little in height (or perceived as’smaller’ as a woc, poc, or just because I’m a woman), but those insignificant details won’t stop me from being fierce. It won’t stop me from standing up for what is fair, what is right and what is just.

It’s also (for me) a nod to all the women in the world, who’ve come before me and paved the way for the world we now live in. Things aren’t perfect, we can definitely attest to that, but we’re on the way to making the world a more inclusive place. There’s just a few blocks ahead of us.

I may be little, but oh man can I roar.

xo

Book Review: The Night Brother

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Hiiiii 😊

So i just finished reading the ‘Night Brother’ by Rosie Garland and oh man, I loved it! It was such a sublime mix of poetic and descriptive language and all set in my beloved home town of Manchester❤ As a Manc I was super invested as soon as I read the ‘set in Manchester’ sentence of the blurb😅

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The Night Brother

It has a Jekyll and Hyde theme that runs throughout, and the book really plays with this in a number of ways – characters, journey’s, day and night. Through the protagonists, Edie and Gnome, the novel goes on winding and difficult journey’s of self discovery and is set in the early 1900’s which helps give, and keep, the air of mystery surrounding the plot. It also allows you to lose yourself in a period set piece of fiction and go back to a time free from the constraints of modernity. Touching upon today’s prevalent issues such as women’s rights, what it means to be a man and gender fluidity, they’re all mixed together with a touch of intrigue, flair and vital importance.

The theme of duality that runs through the entirety of the novel is such an interesting one because we all have different personas depending on who we’re with and the situation we’re in. A lot of people (myself included) probably feel like they are living separate lives sometimes. The novel deals with sexuality and gender fluidity in a way that shows you that you are more and can be more than what you are born into. Edie and Gnome differ in every way, they are complete opposites. But, they need each other. They’re constantly battling against each other for freedom and you do, like with Jekyll and Hyde, get the sense that this could easily be interpreted as someone battling with their inner demons. They desperately yearn for freedom from each other, fighting against their restraints and bonds, but if one of them does win in the end, can they really be whole? To survive one cannot be without the other no matter how hard they try – they are indeed 2 halves of a whole.

Some people might say the ending is anti-climactic, and while I can see where they might be coming from, I have to disagree. The ending, for me, wrapped up the story of the 2 siblings and their arduous journey and provided a sense of comfort. Not just for them, but for us the reader. You become invested in their stories and you really (or I did anyway) want to see them find stability and safety in a world where they would be chewed up and spit out.

I adored reading this and I don’t want to give too much away, but I highly recommend😊

xo

Where are all the non-white, non-male authors?

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Hello 🙂

With an undergraduate degree and an (almost) masters in English, it’s safe to say I’ve read a looot of literature. But the funny, and ridiculously laughable thing is, it wasn’t until I was in my 3rd year of doing my BA that I was hit with the sudden startlingly clear realisation of oh shit, the literary world isn’t just restricted to straight white male western European authors. 

My day of enlightenment happened when I had to find an author and one of their plays, for one of my modules, and argue why they should be included in the syllabus. While I was researching that’s when I noticed it. A crippling lack of novelists, poets, playwrights that weren’t white or straight or male or European (or American for that fact). My happy little literature bubble had burst 😦

I mean, I was obviously aware of the fact that the literary world didn’t become wispy vapours disappearing into the night once you left Europe, but in my mind it diminished severely in quantity, and if there was other literature out there, it was *gulp* primitive in quality. As a British born Pakistani you’d have thought I would’ve been more aware of my literary heritage right? Nope. Right from primary school up until university I had been kept in this strict sphere of straight white, British, Irish, American male authors (with the odd female or coloured writer thrown in to ‘keep the balance’). I remember this intense rage of you lied to me! sitting there in the library surrounded by said authors.    

The removal of so many types of authors, playwrights, poets, novelists from women, to people of colour, to transgender, those of different cultures, to LGBTQ, (the list goes on and on), is a failure and tragedy of the literary world. We are better with them than we are without, and we need to make a conscious effort not to exclude but to include. As a society we will be richer for it. It’s a reason why I seriously believe so many people are disillusioned with literature. If you only provide one style of writing or model of what an author ‘should be,’ how can you expect to appeal to those who don’t conform to those so-called norms?

So please get out there and discover different authors and literature, or write your own! I promise you, you will find something to fall in love with.

xo