Tag Archives: writing

01/04/2026 · 12:37

LBF – Ukraine has to be here!

I was delighted to be invited to a reception on the Ukraine Book Institute stand at LBF2026.

I’ve always admired the way they arrive at the show and put on such as warm, positive face despite the adversity back home. This year the Ukraine Ambassador to the UK, Valeriy Zaluzhny (left|), spoke of the importance of books and invited listeners to discover Ukraine through its literature – through the ideas, experiences and voices of the people who their history today.

‘Books shape a person’s memory, worldview, and future. That’s why books once had an amazing ability to survive eras, wars, and borders. However, like a newspaper with the editor-in-chief’s name at the end, a book disappears. The editor and author disappear with it, and, as a result, the truth disappears. Instead, so-called information has appeared that strikes people’s minds from anonymous sources and shapes their future. Unknown people are still doing this today, and AI will do it tomorrow.

Therefore, today, in times of great trials, the word of truth acquires special power. It must become an instrument of memory, a form of resistance, and a way to explain to the world who we are. That is why Ukrainian literature is experiencing an important moment today – it speaks not only about war, but about the values that determine our future. That is why it is extremely important for us today that Ukraine is present here at the London Book Fair.’

Welcoming everyone to the stand he concluded: ‘As a person who has the honour of serving his country, and as an author, I understand well that a book is not just a text. It is an opportunity for Ukrainian voices to be heard. It is a chance for new translations and for new partnerships. I am sincerely grateful to all our international partners, translators, publishers and readers who help Ukrainian literature find its place in the world cultural space’.

I’d also like to thank Olena Odynoka, Deputy Director of International Cooperation, for her kindness and media assistance.

Positive move on copyright & AI plans

The Government’s long-awaited report on copyright and AI has been published. For UK creators and the creative industries, it signals a win for all those who have campaigned and lobbied hard on this issue over the past year.

Entitled A Report on Copyright & Artificial Intelligence it’s a response to the Government’s consultation on copyright and AI which has rowed back from a copyright exception. This would see rightsholders have to opt-out of their work being used to train Large Language Models. This was the Government’s controversial preferred option when it launched the consultation in December 2024. The result was a massive outcry which united the creative industries and led to sustained campaigning from unions.

In response to this development, it was hailed by the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) General Secretary, Ellie Peers, as representing a ‘win for collective action’ and ‘a step in the right direction on the road to a fair system that will protect and reward writers and other creators in an age of Artificial Intelligence’. However, she admitted that there was much work that still needs to be done to strengthen, not weaken, UK copyright law.

Writers need certainty around protection of their work as a matter of urgency. They need to step up their campaigning and lobbying, writing to their MP, attending protests, making a noise on social media and more.

Then there were two

I began writing this piece, last week, about the very sad and totally unexpected death of Sophie Kinsella, only to be shocked again to learn of the sudden demise of Joanna Trollope, one day later!

Sophie Kinsella died on 10 December, aged 55, just two days before her 56th birthday. In 2022 she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, for which she underwent neurosurgery.

Her first novel was published in 1995 under her married name Madeleine Wickham. Following her decision to forgo the thrills of financial journalism, she turned to fiction writing. Her death is a huge loss to the literary world and to all her millions of readers who followed her main protagonist Becky Bloomwood – a financial journalist with a serious shopping addiction. Beginning with Confessions of a Shopaholic’ in 2000, through to Christmas Shopaholic in 2019, her books (34 novels in 30 years) have sold over 50 million copies with themes such as love, self discovery, relationships and, of course, shopping.

Joanna Trollope sadly passed away on the 11 December two days after her birthday, she was 82.

Starting out as civil servant and then a teacher, Joanna turned to full-time writing in 1980. Despite her family connections to Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, she believed it hadn’t helped her at all in her professional life. She also wrote under the pen name, Caroline Harvey.

Joanna began writing historical fiction before converting to contemporary novels. Because of their more traditional, provincial themes they were labelled by one novelist as ‘aga sagas’ – a term she disliked since her stories were anything but cosy. She produced a huge body of work from her historical novel Eliza Stanhope in 1981,through to Mum & Dad in 2020. As one reviewer summed it up ‘Nobody writes about family tensions better than Joanna Trollope’.

We have lost two outstanding writers in the space of two days. A tragic loss to the literary world and to their families, especially at this time.

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