Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

I have a new publication out this month. It’s a picture book. It’s nothing at all like a picture book.

Allow me to explain.

Back in 2003, I was an aspiring children’s writer. My aspirations took me regularly to the local library, where I would comb review magazines such as Magpies and Viewpoint – to see what was being published, and by whom, to find reading recommendations, and – let’s be honest – to torture myself with little frissons of envy

One such frisson – more of a seismic tremor, really – occurred when, scanning the review columns, I happened upon the title How to Make a Bird, by Martine Murray.

Instantly, I was a mix of excitement and regret. For I knew exactly what this book must be – a slightly weird, lyrical picture book about someone trying to build a bird from raw materials, about the tangible…

The Film:Shaun the Sheep Movie

The Pitch:Animal Farm meets One Man and His Dog

Shaun and his fellow sheep are disgruntled with the Farmer’s adherence to his rigid schedule, which leaves no room for spontaneous fun, but when he goes missing in the Big City, the flock and sheepdog Bitzer leave their rural home to hunt for their pal, all the while eluding a power-mad animal containment officer.

Number of Nominations: One

Which Category? Best Animated Feature

Will it Win? Most likely, Inside Outwill take the prize (and that’s fine – Inside Out is a good film). Anomalisais a little too weird for the Academy, I think (four words: stop motion animated cunnilingus). I have not seen the other nomintaed films yet (Boy and the World; When Marnie Was There). It would be lovely of Shaun the Sheep Movie won, simply because…

Tom Hardy has a new television series, co-produced by himself, his dad (the magnificently-named Chips Hardy), and Ridley Scott.

It’s about nineteenth century roguish sea-going adventurers.

And it looks incredible.

Set in 1814, Taboo follows James Keziah Delaney, a man who has been to the ends of the earth and comes back irrevocably changed. Believed to be long dead, he returns home to London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father’s shipping empire and rebuild a life for himself. But his father’s legacy is a poisoned chalice, and with enemies lurking in every dark corner, James must navigate increasingly complex territories to avoid his own death sentence. Encircled by conspiracy, murder, and betrayal, a dark family mystery unfolds in a combustible tale of love and treachery.

Taboo is written by Steven Knight, who has worked with Hardy on Peaky Blinders and Locke.

The eight-episode miniseries, co-starring…

at last, the lashing rain abates
the howling wind creeps away
tail between its legs
and in the distance
a truck treads and parts slow
puddles in urban lullaby
windows fogged, and silent