Flash fiction is popular. Very short stories. From maybe fifty to a few hundred words. But how short can a short story be? Ernest Hemingway is credited with the quintessential version. A story of just six words. Coming across it a few months back (it’s easily found on the internet) I began scribbling my ownContinue reading “Six word stories”
Author Archives: David Graham Clark
Fire in my Mouth: a concert performance in Edinburgh
It ended with a massive standing ovation that rang on and on, through multiple curtain calls. The atmosphere in the Usher Hall was jubilant, yet sorrowful in turns. The audience simultaneously astonished, stunned, tearful, but also joyous. It had been one of the most remarkable hours of my life, in which not a second wasContinue reading “Fire in my Mouth: a concert performance in Edinburgh”
The interplay between reading and writing
In 2023 I wrote my first novel, Epiphanies and Robberies, and serialised it here – month by month. Whilst I’m the author of quite a few academic books, I’d never before produced something like this, an extended work of fiction, with characters and a storyline totally of my own invention. Certainly, over the years IContinue reading “The interplay between reading and writing”
Music in the spirit of a novel
Last year I wrote my first novel, Epiphanies and Robberies. I was fortunate to have the encouragement of a loyal band of friends and enthusiasts, who got behind my serialised story as it appeared, chapter by chapter, one month at a time, on this blog. This year has seen the struggle to find an agentContinue reading “Music in the spirit of a novel”
Bedside vigil: from contemporary painting to palliative care
The painting is over two metres high, more than a metre wide, and from the end of the upper room, it’s radiating with bright colours and intriguing forms. I’m looking at a work by artist Gabriella Boyd, in Dumfriesshire’s Cample Line gallery. The image is unmissable, yet I seem drawn to it by contrary feelings.Continue reading “Bedside vigil: from contemporary painting to palliative care”
Emma Jane Pagan – a story that keeps blooming
I was organising a weekend festival in my local parish in 2014, when I first met Emma. The whole event was a celebration of autumn and she kindly provided the festival café with lovely seasonal arrangements to go on each table. When the programme ended, the displays were auctioned off and I found myself signingContinue reading “Emma Jane Pagan – a story that keeps blooming”
Lost and found in the Spring garden
It has been a long, hesitant, process. I look back at my diary and photographs over the two months since mid-February, bemused by the intermittent unfurling of Spring 2024, here in south west Scotland. Delayed by days and days of rain. Held up by low temperatures and with winds ‘like a whetted knife’. Hindered byContinue reading “Lost and found in the Spring garden”
Cicely y David: my play in Spanish
At the end of a beautiful spring day in Pamplona, northern Spain, I am in a local theatre, waiting for the curtain to come up on Cicely and David, my play about the early origins of modern hospice and palliative care. A niche topic, certainly, but 250 people have come along to this Spanish premiereContinue reading “Cicely y David: my play in Spanish”
A direct line to Paradise
Newly arrived from Virginia, Henry and Charlotte were entranced by Westminster Abbey. They had just spent two hours immersed in this Gothic-inspired royal church, full of tributes, memorials, the graves of remarkable people, and not least, with its wonderful mellifluous bells. It already felt like this was going to be the holiday of a lifetime. AContinue reading “A direct line to Paradise”
The month of cakes
It may be the shortest month of the year, but February seems replete with symbolism, ritual and ambiguity. Ancient observances jumble with Christian overlays. Calendrical quirks and lunar considerations bubble up and surface. The weather flatters, but can also deceive. The garden wakes up, though might easily turn over and go back to sleep. MuchContinue reading “The month of cakes”
Quotidian 