Ragaris Fortnight, ten days on

So the Ragaris Fortnight has now finished, and I didn’t get too wet sitting out at the gate. As I said a few weeks ago, the “general objective [was] to acquire more readers, purchasers and name-recognition generally, but particularly a) online; and b) in my local area,...

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Deprivation in various authors

Please read the PS, but in the meantime: Some of you may remember that my favourite Diana Wynne Jones quote is: "All power corrupts, but we need electricity." It's very true. Some months ago, I wrote the following, intending to use it in a blog: Recently our central...

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Ragaris Fortnight

A little while ago I was intrigued to connect two fictional dates. 1st October 570 is the date of Dorac Kingsbrother’s trial, the beginning of the story of “We Do Not Kill Children.” 14th October is the date set aside by the New Governance as a day...

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Morality and the Patriarchs

My Scripture Union Bible reading notes have recently been taking me through the life of the patriarch Jacob. If you don’t know this fascinating story, read Genesis chapters 25-35… or just look him up on Wikipedia. (Previous readers of the blog will know about my...

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JL on Children’s Books

My friend Judith Leader has been a guest on this blog before. Here she widens the debate on children’s literature. I have read with interest the posts by people about the books they read as children. I have been impressed by their knowledgeable writing, the books...

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The Rowling furore part 2

Since writing Part One, I’ve realised how ignorant I am on this topic – not completely ignorant, and also not neutral, but in need of a great deal of further inquiry. (Please don’t use the word “re-education.") I’ve got some work to do, and it...

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The Rowling furore part 1

My name is Penelope Wallace. I am a white, middle-aged, middle-class, able-bodied Christian British woman, living in England but with Scottish roots. This isn’t everything I am, but it’s a start. On 10th June 2020 the author JK Rowling posted a blog on trans and gender issues...

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Children’s Literature (3)

In last Saturday’s Guardian Review, John Mullan reviewed AN Wilson’s “The Mystery of Charles Dickens,” and quoted him on a famous section of “Dombey and Son” - (spoiler) “The death of Paul Dombey is so schmaltzy that we simply refuse to be moved, but then, dammit, we...

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