United Kingdom
Writer, Teacher of Creative Writing, and freelance journalist. Words @HuffPostUK @CultureTrip @JewishRen @WritingUntitled @clavmag @mironlinebbk @queerlings @LitroMagazine
2023-24 Writer in Residence for the Centre for Mental Health
Tutor of expressive and reflective writing, and queer storytelling, for organisations ranging from London Lit Lab, Out on the Page, and The Write Salon
Qualified coach in generative change, using life writing and storytelling as a tool for people undergoing profound change.
In the spring of 2022 Brits were travelling on holiday again as Covid infections started to ebb. Flights were booked. Festivals were being staged. Destinations such as Gran Canaria, Barcelona, and Tel Aviv promised welcome respite after the lockdowns and social isolation of the two previous years.
Covid travel restrictions explain the current eerie atmosphere in towns on the Costas of southern Spain, but will the impact of Brexit prolong the ghost town conditions? Andrew Kaye investigates. Se Alquila ('for rent') signs are plastered on apartments as far as the eye can see. Dust lines the shelves in souvenir shops.
The new Prado exhibition smells just as sweet as it appears. In Shakespeare's words, Juliet Capulet famously asks, 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.'
(Creative Nonfiction). I don't think about Jean-Paul that much anymore. He's the man who I'm reminded of when I hear Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You." Jean-Paul's the man I formed a first impression of, as a man to stand away from, a man I'd prefer not to enter into conversation with, even at a social distance.
We've all heard of the Spanish Masters - Goya, Picasso and Dalí, to name just three - but here's a recommendation if you haven't heard of Miquel Barceló, native of Mallorca. Book yourself a ticket to visit the Museo Picasso Málaga' s exhibition of Barceló' s mood-lifting art.
As Spain welcomes back Brits in their hundreds of thousands, I opted to forgo cocktails in the Costas and ventured instead to the country's heartland, Castilla y Leon. Instead of stretching out on the sand to bask in the sun, I chose to visit the medieval cities of Segovia and Ávila, two of Spain's most distinguished historic Jewish quarters.
For the most part, life in Marrakech is good. The sun shines brightly throughout the winter. Our diet consists of mostly fresh fruit, warm bread and olive oil, and, as someone who appreciates Islamic architecture, I'm happy to trade London's office blocks for mezzanines and madrasas. Marrakech itself has a cosmopolitan air.
Weaving a way forward for women Marrakech has long been celebrated for its inimitable sense of style and its artistry. Sustainability consultant Rosanna Falconer believes the city's efforts in sustainable tourism are "as magic as its famed technicolour bohemian roots" and points tourists to cooperatives such as Al Nour, a business with a drive for social justice.
For hundreds of years, the Mellah positively teemed with life. With a bustling spice souk(market) and the clanging sound of silversmiths, the Jewish Quarter has long been a draw for tourists, but all it takes is a stroll around the labyrinthine alleyways to evoke ghosts of the recent past.
Sat with my dad when the news filtered through that coronavirus was no longer contained to China, my main preoccupations were embarrassingly prosaic: how was I going to battle Storm Ciara to fly home from London to Barcelona? What Valentine's Day gift I was going to buy my partner?