Alison Morton | Alison Morton Author

Are conferences good for you?

With critique writing partner Denise Barnes (Photo: Anna Belfrage)

Spring and summer are the conference seasons and can sometimes create quite a hectic schedule; I’m on and off planes all the time with a few days in between. And then you squeeze a holiday in somewhere. The airports seem to blur together after […]

Throwing a sickie

And breathe…! Or not.

Well, I’ve been having some difficulty doing this over the past fortnight. I flew home from the highly energising Dublin Writers’ Conference with a raging sore throat and feeling like a superannuated wet dishcloth. The tiredness could have been due to the conference (it was fairly intense), but the sore throat […]

Fed up with the football world cup? Here's an alternative!

It’s on grass in summer, it can take place indoors, it’s pacey, full of tension, heart-wrenching, breath snatching and an alternative to football… Yes, reading!

And not just reading, but box sets where you get three or more books packaged together. Not only is this convenient, it will also save you money. So let’s […]

2018 Dublin Writers' Conference

Back in Dublin! From arriving at the airport, riding into the city from the airport and stepping down from the bus in O’Connell Street, there was something rather familiar.

Once again, I’d been invited by Laurence O’Bryan who heads up the Books Go Social group to speak at this very friendly festival. Although I’m waving […]

Being boringly inclusive

Lionel Shriver is opinionated. She got into a lot of trouble in some quarters for criticising the ‘idolisation of diversity’. Mary Beard is similarly opinionated (but has an endearing smile); however, she tries to be balanced. Owen Jones is opinionated – just listen to any debate he takes part in. Diane Abbott raises hackles with […]