Sarah de Nordwall blog

It’s wonderful to have you here, as you wend your way to Oxford from Archatheos, (pronounced Ar KAY theos) from the realm of Deliverance to the grave of the Maker of Middle Earth himself, JRR Tolkien. Apparently you were the first Bard of the realm.  That’s got to be good summer camp work!   So…

It always sounded like such a hopeful poem to me – the Edge of Our Unknowing, “I like it that friendship is like getting into a boatPushed out from the shore,There’ll always be more you want to knowTo see, to feel, to sailBut there’s only the journey, never arrivingBut the sea is wide and free.”…

It’s fascinating to see what insights people bring to your own poems.  When I heard David’s voice in the Arts Tent at Youth 2000 Festival,  saying hello, I knew I was in for a treat.  The last time we met, had been a few years ago,  on a beach in Nice, looking at the sea…

So here is Jemima, whose name reminds me of gingerbread and all things beautiful and Beatrix Potter. Her mum Maria assures me they ARE big fans of the enchanting Miss Potter and the family have just finished the whole 23 book series. Maria also homeschools Lani, Rupert and Hugo, whilst managing to run a health…

I had the great pleasure of kicking a ball around in the park with a 7 year old friend of mine today; Here’s the evidence, because we think he’s a bit too young to be online, but he wants to show you his football. Now, I know he’s great at reciting poetry, but I’m intrigued…

“Sitting on indented marble cuboid in front of entrance…” It’s definitely a text from Dr Gareth. And indeed, there he is sitting at the entrance to the British Library. I normally catch up with him in Wales, but he’s passing through London on the way to a new assignment and I remember to ask him…

They say little creatures crawled out of the slimeAnd became human beings in a matter of timeSo that that which once wallowed in primeval bogsNow thrives in society’s civilised cogs. Which cog you engage with, you choose if you canAnd one I’ve encounteredIs Microwave Man. For me this story of Microwave man is one of…

So after a weekend off enjoying the Evangelium conference in the very school where Tolkien wrote some of the Lord of the Rings! We entered the black room to pay hommage. Apparently his son taught there for a while and so Tolkien and his wife came to visit their son.. But now to Joe and…

It’s almost midnight and I’m tapping on the glass – “How do I get out?” And there in the dark outside is a familiar face. It’s Joanna Bogle! ‘”There’s no key” she says. Great. Though the prospect of sleeping in a marble floored hall, surrounded by rather impressive Boards of School Captains since 1897 isn’t…