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Next Tuesday I have been asked to give a short talk about my book Swindon Orbital at the Postmodern Gallery in Swindon. As we are in the midst of an election, here’s how I have decided to pitch it:

Although Swindon has grown a hundredfold in the past 200 years immigration remains a hot topic, particularly at election time.

Drawing on research conducted for his book Swindon Orbital, author Richard Willis will use Swindon’s history of migrations to argue that immigration is a force for good. If you are interested in politics, history and/or literature you should enjoy the discussion.

The talk is free. Here’s the flyer for the event. If you are in Swindon on Tuesday 4th May please do come along.

Playing football last Friday I broke the little finger of my left hand. The bone has also twisted, meaning that I might need surgery to straighten it. This means my left hand is more or less useless. Just living simply becomes a chore. Anything involving water is particularly tough, the hardest two tasks are washing up and shampooing my hair. But more or less every activity involves both hands, I have sadly discovered.

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Whilst writing my first book Swindon Orbital earlier this year, I learnt something important about the act of writing. It was a crucial lesson, but not one I can share with you right now, because it went on to form the key idea around which my second book Blakes Road is being built, and to share it would be to spoil that.

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