2026 has been an immensely busy year thus far, with a tremendous amount of time taken up travelling to and from places I have been writing about for ongoing and future projects. South and East Yorkshire, Cumbria, and central England, not to mention my native stamping grounds in West Yorkshire, have featured frequently, and in just a few hours' time I will be bouncing off to Brum for the umpteenth time. Much news will be forthcoming in regard to all.
I was delighted to be published for the second time in The Dalesman magazine in February, with an article profiling William Dutton, the innovative founder, artistic director and conductor of Cuore, Yorkshire's newest chamber orchestra, who I interviewed amid the illustrious confines of Harrogate's Royal Hall, the orchestra's main performing home. Having attended Cuore's inaugural concert last May, it was a privilege to be able to help spread the word, and I am thrilled to say that the article has already secured further funding for this wonderful professional orchestra, by means of a sponsorship from a reader.
March saw a furthering of my collaboration with Calderdale digital artist Emily Howarth, illustrator of my nature diary The Wind Blows Thick Upon The Moor. We delivered a talk together at Sowerby Bridge Library, where I read from the diary and other books, and Emily discussed her path into the arts, what inspired her, and her illustrating plans for the future. We will be delivering a further talk at the Foundry Street Community Centre, Sowerby Bridge, at midday on 21st July.
Last month, I again took to the road to present a talk, this time for the lovely Mothers' Union group at St James Church, Heckmondwike, where I read from various of my nature books including A Year In The Calder Valley, The Wind Blows Thick Upon The Moor, and my pamphlet about cormorants, Titans of the Twilight.
I have been busily sorting a lot of my published and unpublished work into different groupings, with the hope of publishing several jumbo collections in the near future. My aim is to get as much of my writing in the public domain as possible, in formats and quantities that are easier rather than harder for potential readers to collect affordably. Where copyright restrictions apply this may prove tricky, but already much of my self published work is available in Word or PDF format, and I am hoping to arrange physical reprints soon.
Other plans for the rest of the year include a reading at Skipton Library in November, from my Yorkshire/Lancashire border travelogue, Borderlands - more details to come soon!
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