December 2012
I love Christmas. Here's a few bits from Why Be Happy that might explain why.
In Accrington there was always a huge tree outside the Market Hall, and the Salvation Army played carols there for most of December.
At Christmas time the bartering system was in full swing. We could offer Brussels Spouts on stalks from our allotment, apples wrapped in newspaper to make sauce, and best of all the once a year Cherry Brandy made from the morello cherry tree in the yard, and steeped half a year in the back of a cupboard on the way to Narnia.
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November 2012
It has been a good run of awards for me this year with Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
I was so happy to win the Stonewall Writer of the Year Award. Stonewall makes a huge difference to the lives of gay people in the UK, especially young people, who are often bullied for saying something as simple as 'I really like you' to a member of their own sex. I believe that young people should be able to avoid labels. Why on earth should anyone feel pressure to declare themselves gay or straight in their teens? For some young people it's obvious, for others, it is just another confusion. And let's face it, growing up is all about confusion. I hope there will be a world where we can date and kiss and love without labels. And then commit ourselves to the right person and try and live well in the world, as a good citizen and parent, regardless of the gender of our partner.
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August 2012
August. My birthday month. My advice to anybody is: Get Born.
I love August - the end of summer, the stone that has absorbed the heat, the fruits on the trees starting to colour. The second flush of roses. The swallows beginning to gather for the flight to Egypt.
I think about myself too, in the womb all those years ago, getting ready to push my way out into an unknown world. A planetary explorer. When I was born I became the visible corner of a folded map.
Now, more than half way through, I find there is still no obvious route forward - only the routes I have taken - and looking back there is a pattern. By which I mean a navigational preference for clashing rocks, fierce waters, dark valleys. Mountains. I have never been good at plain sailing.
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July 2012
I feel like Noah before he built the ark. Nothing is growing in the garden. What survives the rain is eaten by slugs. I feel pretty gloomy and I know it is the weather. Years ago Gaia Earth scientist James Lovelock predicted that Britain would get wetter and wetter as a result of climate change. Nobody believed him.
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May 2012
The last time I wrote I was on a boat.
Since then I have been across America, visiting 10 cities in 10 days, and written a new introduction to Virginia Woolf's ORLANDO for the Folio society. I've written about adoption for Harper's Bazaar - June issue, and reviewed John Irving's new book, IN ONE PERSON for the New York Times.
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February 2012
GOOGLE A ROOM FOR LONDON.
That is where I am. On Friday I will delivering a podcast around 5pm but you will have to check on the Room for London website to find out more about this as I don't really know how it is to be done.
All I know is that I will be on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank in a boat that looks as if it has been borrowed from a Joseph Conrad novel.
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January 2012
Thank you to everyone who has made WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU COULD BE NORMAL such a big hit.
I cannot believe how many copies it has sold - and that must mean that two people per copy are reading it. I am glad because I can't see the point of being alive if I can't make some small difference.
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