Jackie Anderson here reads two poems giving her perspective on Gibraltar Woman, and what that term means to her

Native Tongues is not just a monthly poetry event. It is a space where those with the impulse to create stories and tell these in song, lyrics, poems and tall tales, can breathe new life into our day to day existence, can learn, can grow, can find their voice and their place.

Writing and publishing your work is challenging, but turning up and taking up the challenge is what writing is all about.

Sometimes the writing just won’t flow - so what do you do when your brain’s gone dry as dust and you’re in a writing desert?

Women writers in Gibraltar need to keep writing and keep improving their writing so we can develop and grow literature that people across the world want to read. We need to feel seen, heard and supported by our local community and by each other. We write not just for ourselves; we write to be read. This means we have to have the courage and the means and the opportunities to publish our writing.

Gabriel Moreno presented his new book “Gibraltar” with publisher Rafael Peñas Cruz, with Morag Butler adding her beautiful voice to several numbers, at El Kasbah in a moving evening of song, friendship and the celebration of poetry

Writing goals set in January often end up by the wayside. Seeds sown in February, however, tend to germinate…

It is uncomfortable to sit in the margins, a footnote to the rest of the story, a passing annotation. Yet it is from those margin notes that ideas can be culled, that a few momentary thoughts are captured in brief words and eventually germinate and flourish in the artist’s mind to become powerful works in their own right.

So the light fades and the nights lengthen, and it is time for the ghosts to rise…let’s talk about writing fearful stories and haunting tales

The majestic Munster overlooking the Rhine at Basel - a mulit-lingual city of learning through the ages and the perfect venue to learn about language

I wanted this post to just be a brief note to record my thoughts about what The Ripper’s enduring legacy might be. It’s a significant day today, 31s August. It is the anniversary of the murder of Mary Ann Nichols; Polly, as her friends and family would have called her.

Every writer has a hoard of old ideas sitting abandoned in a dusty drawer on scraps of paper or hiding in a computer drive somewhere, all waiting to be dusted down, revisited, reworked, refreshed and brought to life; a treasure trove of hidden gems.

Do we judge a book by its cover? It’s the instant impact that cover art makes that will stop us in our tracks and make us pause…and buy the book, doesn’t it?

Have you ever received advice about embracing the seasons in order to enhance your writing? But how hard is it to write un-seasonally when you have a deadline to meet, or just need to get that work in progress completed before moving on to the next project? Let’s think about writing Christmas stories in a July heatwave…

Musings on how ideas for my poetry book, Beyond the Blue, were generated over time.

The only obstacle in the way of my writing a novel…is me. Here’s what has motivated me to finally get it started.

Many writers dream that one day their book will be found on a library shelf and earlier this year that is where I found mine. It got me pondering about how we, as writers, might find a way to achieve our dreams…

A quiet corner at a cafe makes a perfect spot for today’s Writing Away Day.

Being part of a writing community can provide powerful support for your writing. In this post I share what I have learned from being part of several writing groups. Writing need not be a totally solitary pursuite!

Spring into refreshed creativity. Spring is here! At least, it is in the northern hemisphere, and, according to the scions of social media and the internet, it's the perfect time to get your writing mojo back