I have mentioned before my late father Professor Joseph M Yoffey`s inability to throw away a diary or a letter, which he inherited from his father Rabbi Israel Jacob Yoffey. I inherited that family gene, if no other! I have been transcribing a handwritten notebook made by my father on a visit to Palestine in […]
Attracted by the zeitgeist of Brexit, Populism, and all that I clicked online to perhaps book tickets at a new play coming shortly. The play is called `Youth Without God,` and is by Christopher Hampton, based on a novel by Odon Von Horvath, who escaped from Nazi Germany just before the war. Yes, I care […]
I am preparing to publish my play The Song of Deborah, and have been writing, rewriting, deleting, writing, a `preface` to what will be a slim volume, but I hope a useful one – successful also! Many writers self-publish these days. I am joining their ranks slowly. ie I am not quite ready to launch […]
From today`s Times: “The Queen’s homeopathic pharmacist is selling ground-down fragments of the Berlin Wall to people who believe it will cure asthma and depression. Ainsworths, which has held a Royal warrant since 1980 and also supplies the Prince of Wales, is charging up to £114 for a large bottle of tablets leading to warnings […]
We`re in the middle of summer…but lots happening. My project of publishing The Song of Deborah this year is moving along nicely, and I am also continuously editing Paper in the Cracks, as I watch its progress towards…who knows what, exactly. And when I say `continuously,` I do not mean `continually.` I mean even when […]
Last night I saw The Starry Messenger, by Kenneth Lonergan, at Wyndhams. I have no idea why the reviews we read gave it 3 stars. Only one reviewer, Ann Treneman, gave it 4 and liked it almost as much I did. (We did – Jeff came too.) For me it was like a drink of […]
This week Jeff and I went to Manchester and revisited the Rabbi I J Yoffey archive, stored in box-files in Manchester Central Library. Israel Jacob Yoffey was my grandfather, Rabbi of the Central Synagogue in Manchester. He died 10 years before I was born. In 1934 he set off by boat to Palestine, accompanied by […]
Lots happening. I feel lucky to have an inner life, as well as a life whose centre of gravity lies in my computer, in a year in which there has been a recurrence of my so-called `ME` experience. This time round, I was referred to the Royal Free Centre of Excellence`s M E Clinic. I […]
I don`t know a great deal about Didcot Writers, and intend to find out. But I`m pleased they have decided to include my story `The Dressmaker` in their forthcoming Anthology, titled `First Contact.` As the protagonist of The Dressmaker had never before been to a dressmaker, then this story, which previously appeared in Litro online […]
Fascinating day yesterday. First – I found a way to resolve problems in my new short story – previously named My Career as a Pianist. This story started life 7 years ago in a rushed and over-written way as a misplaced effort to respond to a call out from Manchester writers Sherry Ashworth and Anjum […]