‘What you want to ignite in others must first burn inside yourself’
Aurelius Augustinus
Chiswick Book Festival
When the organisers of Chiswick Book Festival contacted me, I felt honoured to join Nicola Rayner and Robin Duval, fellow Ealing authors on the Ealing Fiction Panel. The discussion was great and Lisa Evans did a fantastic job of asking the right questions. It wasn’t a huge turnout but enough to create an atmosphere. If you want to listen to us, it is on the University of West London click on the name to take you their YouTube Channel
Of all the events I went to during the festival, every writer had a passion, a desire to tell the narrative. Dear Reader, that is what has got into me. To keep writing stories that come to me in my sleep and in my waking hours and even if you do not turn up to hear me or buy my books, my stories are what they are. The first burn that has ignited and when you read them, perhaps they will ignite you to do something out of the ordinary, out of your comfort zone. Go on unless you take the leap you will never know.
Ealing Central Library Meet the Author - Saz Vora with Arti Manani.
Meet the Author - Ealing Library
When I published my books in March 2020, my local library contacted and booked me up to a meet the author event for May 2020, but the lockdown stopped the in-person event. So it was great to go back to the Central library, set up a table and wait for people to arrive. The people who asked questions were fantastic. I love that the best of all, the audience asking questions and although I have been doing many on screen Q&A, there’s something about body language and people near people that makes it very exciting. The other thing is the fact that my books are available in the Library as paperbacks and as ebooks. Not everyone can afford to buy books and, for many people, the library is the only place. It was great to meet with old friends and make new ones too.
Incredible how quickly my life had gone back to normal. There’s been a couple of family gatherings, Sunday brunch, and a visit to the Theatre. The British weather hasn’t been kind to us this year. One minute a heat wave, the next cold snap of blustering wind and rain. I’ve met with friends for lunch and coffee and although there are moments of anxiety, most of it has been enjoyable. We even booked a holiday, confident that we would be safe.
St Paul’s Beach, Lindos, Rhodes
We're all goin' on a summer holiday
No more workin' for a week or two
We're goin' where the sun shines brightly
We're goin' where the sea is blue
Cliff Richard and The Shadows B. Bennett / B. Welsh
Summer Holiday to Greece
My holiday brought back memories of a visit to Greece in the summer that our son died, a girl’s holiday with two of my girlfriends. It certainly was eventful. One minute I was fine and the next I was crying, missing my other half, missing my baby. I’m sure they couldn’t wait to get back on the hovercraft and then the plane back to England. This time, the anxiety of travelling on a plane with nearly 200 people kicked in the night before, so I woke up several times during the night. By the time I was on the plane, it had eased, reassured by the mask wearing passengers. I took physical books with me and just sat by the pool or the beach and read them, switching from one or the other. Three books on the go. We only ventured out once to Lindos Old Town for a climb to the Acropolis, but most of the time, it was a full recharge, swimming, massage, sleep and eat. Nothing taxing, nothing like the usual holidays we go on, where I plan and schedule everything. I think him indoors was a bit surprised at my chilling vibes and kept asking if I wanted to go anywhere or do anything.
There’s an amazing sky of the most exquisitely blue of lapis lazuli, a striking sea that resembles turquoise that is only in the waters and sky around Greece.
Read Easy Ealing Launch - Saz Vora with prize winner
Most of us take reading for granted, and I’ve discovered that many people no longer read as much as they used to. The many distractions of social media, on demand platforms, mean there are many ways to occupy our spare time. When I was younger, we watched TV when there were children’s programmes on and then played or read a book. Not a lot of choice, but it kept us busy. I found out about a charity that has been running for 11 years, Read Easy, started by Ginny Williams-Ellis, that supports adults with reading. I can understand how easy it is to slip into not reading, especially if you miss the basics. I was at the launch of Read Easy Ealing and met lots of people who are volunteering to make a change in West London, a shocking number of adults can’t read. In the area covered by Read Easy Ealing there are 13,000, click link to find out more about their work
Here’s an extract from Broad Street Library, Long listed Spread the World Life Writing Prize 2020. It was my experience of learning to spell that led me to write this story. I hope you like it. Please leave a comment on your early reading or writing experience below.
Broad Street Library, Extract
I tried to use phrases I’ve heard in a conversation. Surely, sounded just like how Shirley spelt her name. But I was wrong, Miss Weller had asked me to write it again.
“Find the root word Deepa and then add the el wy.” When I searched the class dictionary, I’d spent too much time on it and Clive pushed me aside.
“You're hogging it, Deeper,” he lifted his palm to his nose and scrunched his face up and rubbed his hand vigorously on his shorts.
Billy Bradley suppressed a snigger with his grubby fat fingers.
“Clive, what are you doing?”
“Nothing Miss,” and he elbowed me out of the way as he ran back to his desk.
The spellings made little sense. Shore.
“No, no, no, that’s a seashore.”
I wrote the word again, sour. Doesn’t that sound the same but spelt differently?
“No, that sounds different, you're thinking of pour.” Miss Weller said, I tried again, sore.
“That’s when you’ve run too long, and your legs are sore.”
“Is that the same as more?”
“Yes, as in greater, but not when boats are at the docks, that is em oh oh ar.”
I looked up at her smiling face and she wrote in my exercise book, her writing dancing gracefully in the margin.
“Learn these,” she’d said, tapping at the words she’d written.
“You're doing really well, Deepa” and she pressed my shoulder and moved to the next desk.
Writing Life
I’m a regularly columnist on Society Today, a rare inclusive publication devoted to social, political, economic, cultural and environmental issues. Read my August column on Mental Health and British South Asian Community
Watch this space, wheels are turning for a printed version.