EMMA LEE-POTTER

Poet Jo Shapcott wins 2010 Costa Book of the Year

26th January 2011 | 1 comments | 1 person likes this

“We were captivated by the poetry in this special, original, compassionate, uplifting and accessible book that readers will go back to again and again.”

That’s how Andrew Neil summed up the 2010 Costa Book of the Year judges’ admiration for this year’s winning book - Jo Shapcott’s Of Mutability. His praise was richly deserved but even so, Shapcott’s triumph took the literary world by surprise. For a start, it’s the second...

Read more »

My favourite books of 2010

6th January 2011 | 1 comments | 2 people like this

January is always a dreary month – but it’s even worse than usual this year. VAT’s gone up, it’s freezing cold outside and most of my time is spent chivvying my teenage son to revise for his impending exams. If you’re fed up with January and dread the thought of yet more snow, then the most cheering answer to the winter blues is to draw the curtains, light the fire and...

Read more »

Vodka teapots and leaving home

14th September 2010 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this

After the agonising wait for exam results and the scramble for university places, thousands of teenagers will be leaving home in the next few weeks.

My 18-year-old daughter is one of them. She’s off to London and is busy packing clothes, books, pots, pans and her prized collection of Vogue magazines into two modest suitcases.

In the midst of the chaos, an anxious friend texted her. “How’s your mum coping?” said the...

Read more »

Hearts and flowers

24th March 2010 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this

Romantic fiction often gets a bad press – and it’s not fair. “People think it’s Barbara Cartland swooning on a chaise longue dictating to her pug,” says writer Lucy Dillon, who last week scooped the 2010 Romantic Novel of the Year award. “But it covers so many aspects of people’s lives. Heartbreak and the struggles of making relationships work are pretty universal, whether they’re set in Regency London or modern-day...

Read more »

The Spice Girl who could actually sing

4th January 2010 | 1 comments | 2 people like this

I’m a bit sceptical about big names being parachuted into West End productions. But when I saw that the critics had given ex-Spice Girl Melanie C a standing ovation on the first night of her spell in Blood Brothers I couldn’t resist booking tickets. Critics are a steely bunch so if Melanie C’s debut acting performance managed to get them all on their feet the show had to be worth...

Read more »

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

29th October 2009 | 1 comments | 1 person likes this

Every Saturday night my teenage daughter Lottie and I sit glued to the latest dizzying instalment of The X Factor. Forget has-been Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor has got the lot – glamour, drama, dazzling white teeth (apparently Simon Cowell insists all the young hopefuls get their gnashers whitened), rival judges at each other’s throats, even back flips.
It’s not quite as nail-biting as last year though when we...

Read more »

Billy No Mates

30th June 2009 | 2 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

I’ve just been caught red-handed gazing dreamily at a gorgeous honey-coloured cottage for sale in the local estate agent’s window. The manager (who I’ve twice bought and sold houses through) swished past, did an astonished double-take and whisked me straight inside. To my son’s horror, I emerged ten minutes later clutching a sheaf of details of properties we can’t possibly afford.

I’ve got a serious moving habit. One that dates back...

Read more »