Newsletter

Mark My Words – September 2026

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Bracknell Book Fair

Dear Friends, New and Old,

Originally I booked up to do the Bracknell Book Fair at the Oaktree Garden Centre because it’s a stone’s throw (almost literally) from my mother’s home, and I thought it would kill two birds with one stone (let’s make the most of that stone); I could combine it with a family visit. Well, clearly that’s no longer possible, as you’ll know if you read last month’s newsletter. But I’ve decided to do it anyway, almost as a tribute to my mother. It was after all the place she went to most Fridays with my sister Alison after she’d had her hair done.

It seems very fitting. In Final Approach, I write the story of how she received an entry form for the Heathrow 70 Writing Competition, celebrating the airport’s seventieth anniversary, as she lived in the flightpath. She entered with her tale of how she’d been virtually abducted by Idi Amin after her plane was diverted to Entebbe when a Lufthansa Boeing 747 (Jumbo Jet) crashed at Nairobi, her planned destination. Or I should say, I entered for her, as you had to submit your story online. At the same time, I thought, why don’t I enter too? So I did.

Reader, she won. A Boots No.7 travel pack. But reader, I won too – first prize, a trip to Sydney for my account of planespotting at Heathrow in the 70s! My earliest, and possibly my greatest, writing win. I have to say, I did enjoy the phone call when I told my mother of our relative successes! As it happens, I’m down to do a talk at the Book Fair which was going to discuss Final Approach and our ‘Adventures under the Heathrow Flightpath’. It will be particularly poignant now, and I will focus on the shared history in the book – doing a Red Devils parachute jump together, visiting Eswatini (then Swaziland) with the Red Cross, flying to Paris for the Arc de Triomphe horserace. Do come along if you can – it’s on Saturday 19^th September, not sure what time my talk is yet, but the fair is from 10 till 4.

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Arvon Foundation, Totleigh Barton

Writing retreats and me, we got history. This time four years ago I’d just arrived in Spain for a retreat in the hills above Malaga when my wife Lynn was taken seriously ill in the middle of the night and ambulanced off to hospital. Obviously I dashed back to her bedside. The following year, possibly partly because of that, I tried a repeat performance and couldn’t hack it, I had to come home. So I felt that at least going to a retreat in next door Devon, if it all went pear-shaped (I think I can use the odd cliché in my newsletter, as long as it doesn’t become a habit; obviously I’ll try and avoid them in my ‘literature’) I wouldn’t have far to go.

Then the week before it started, my mother died, putting it in doubt. But thanks to very supportive family and ironically the circumstances of my mother’s death, I was able to go. It turned out she needed a postmortem due to the probable cause being scars left from when she had bowel cancer surgery thirty-three (!) years ago. This caused a delay I was able to take advantage of.

I was very glad I did go to the retreat, and I’m pleased to say I managed to complete the course. The tutors (Gwendoline Riley, Booker longlisted for her latest, The Palm House) and Cynon Jones were excellent, as was the guest writer midweek, Jon Doyle, who read from his very powerful Communion. It put me right in the zone to get stuck into my new project, a novel with the working title Keep in Touch, and to make a better attempt at it than I would have without the course.

Now, back to funeral planning.

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Calendar of Events

I’m cutting down on the number of events I’m doing for two reasons; one, to be honest it has felt a little as if I’m treading too comfortably in familiar footsteps and there’s a part of me that wants to move on from that, and two, I want to devote more time to the afore-mentioned novel and produce something totally new. But here’s what I am doing:

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Book Review – The Leopard and the Moon, by Nigel Roberts

A while back I was on the excellent The Literary Consultancy Amplify programme, and Nigel was in the same cohort. I was intrigued by the sound of his forthcoming book The Leopard and the Moon, which is now out. The Leopard and the Moon a book by Nigel Roberts and Nigel Roberts – Bookshop.org UK Among other things, the book is a tribute to Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard, and Nigel follows in Peter’s frozen footsteps. But the journey is mainly a conduit for rigorous self-examination, as journeys often seem to be, and Nigel has some extremely traumatic family events to come to terms with, as well as examining his sense of responsibility and guilt in these events.

This guilt is not entirely in the past; for reasons connected with the above, which I won’t spell out here as it would be a spoiler, Nigel has a greater duty of care to his grandson Alex than would be normal for a grandfather. Has he been selfish in going off to Nepal for months to assuage his needs while actually adding to the burden of guilt by leaving an almost dependent grandson behind? Here we come across a coincidental parallel with The Snow Leopard – Mattiessen feels guilt at leaving behind a recently-bereaved son who is almost bizarrely also called… Alex.

This is a very frank and brave account by a successful man who unlike many successful men is painfully aware of his failings and not afraid to bare them to a wider public. Nigel held very senior roles in the World Bank which provided the lifestyle and the opportunity for behaviour which would now be referred to as toxic masculinity. Much as he does to exorcise these traits, there’s a deliciously ironic moment where his male gaze leads to a random meeting which massively benefits him. Life can be generous as well as cruel!

I really enjoyed Nigel’s examination of dysfunctional familial behaviour and mental health struggles, but also the physical aspects of his extraordinary journey and the geographical and geopolitical backdrop. It also has to be said, Nigel is a brilliant writer, with original and powerful use of language – her life of great promise had been betrayed by a simple chemical flaw, like the errant stitch left by a Persian carpet weaver to avoid blasphemous perfection. For me, this is unquestionably a five-star book, and I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

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And Finally…

Just a reminder that the hardback version of Final Approach is now available directly from me, as is the paperback and my Brian the Bear books. All books can be signed and dedicated in whatever way you like.

If you do buy or read one of my books, please consider leaving a review on Bookstore UK/Goodreads/Amazon or wherever you can – it makes a massive difference.

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In the meantime, if you want to reach me I’m at mark@markblackburn.co.uk. More of my work can be found on my website.

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