A discovery
It’s a week since I blogged. I certainly didn’t mean it to be so long, but the approaching hols have taken up so much time – not to mention putting the house back together after the builders left.
In amongst all this I’ve discovered a new fictional detective. Those who aren’t crime fiction aficionados won’t understand how great this is. A whole new series to seek out, read, compare, anticipate the next one. Marvellous.
The detective in question is Inspector Singh, based in Singapore but often sent by his superiors (who don’t much like having him around) to other countries in the region.
The book I’ve just read is A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul. It reads like a classic mystery but has a dramatic, thriller-like ending. The characters are memorable and I give it an ‘A’ for sense of place – now Bali is on my list of places to visit.
Inspector Singh’s creator is Shamini Flint, who lives in Singapore and is a lawyer by training. She’s already written several Singh books and looks young enough to write many more.
Poetry and sport
For next year the Welsh Rugby Union will have a poet in residence. He is Owen Sheers, a well-known Welsh writer.
I don’t know if this is the first time a sport has had its own poet, but in Wales, land of bards, where poets are highly regarded, the combination is not surprising.
Rugby arouses strong emotion and encourages its expression; neither players nor spectators hold back from showing their feelings. Poetry articulates all the varieties of emotion and shows us how to think about them. A natural pairing.
Despite having lived in South Wales at one time, I know almost nothing about rugby and can’t imagine what a poet will find to write about. However, Mr Sheers is a fan of the game and is no doubt brimming with ideas to bring it closer to poetry-lovers, and poetry closer to sport fans.
I’m looking forward to reading the results and, who knows, I might learn something about rugby.
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