by David West | Feb 29, 2024 | News
It’s that time of the month again when Red Herrings, the CWA’s bulletin, drops through the letterbox. Our chair, Vaseem Khan, tells a hilarious story about an American writer’s use of TikTok. The writer shall remain nameless but apparently a member of his (I’m...
by David West | Feb 27, 2024 | News
On Friday I was in Oxford at the annual Joe Todd Dinner in my old college, St. Edmund Hall. Joe was a wonderful man and an inspiring tutor in engineering science. To honour his legacy, his students contributed to a fund which annually helps fund research projects...
by David West | Feb 25, 2024 | News
On 25th February 1601 Robert Devereux 2nd Earl of Essex was executed for treason. The story is told in the 1939 film, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, starring Bette Davis and Errol Flynn. The story is also told in The Spy who Sank the Armada, my first novel...
by David West | Feb 22, 2024 | News
The villanelle is a poetic form comprising five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two repeating, rhyming refrains which run through the poem and form the final two lines. These refrains are supported by a supporting rhyme. This will all become clear if you...
by David West | Feb 18, 2024 | News
On the 18th of February 1884 Russian police seized all copies of Leo Tolstoy’s book, What I Believe In. Tolstoy was born to an aristocratic family. In 1844 he began studying law and oriental languages at Kazan University, where his teachers described him as unable and...
by David West | Feb 16, 2024 | News
On the 16th February 1861 the president-elect, Abraham Lincoln, stopped his train in Westfield to thank an 11 year-old girl, Grace Bedell. Grace had written to Lincoln encouraging him to grow a beard in order to improve his appearance and win the election. Lincoln had...
