Has there ever been a better time to escape into boarding school literature? With a return to virtual learning, the end of Christmas holidays brought no change of scene – only, at best, a change of screen. “I wish I were taking the train to Cornwall to go to Malory Towers,” my daughter, Isla, remarked […]
About Joanna Norland
Writing instructor, playwright and mother of two
Birthday Spell!
Happy Tenth Birthday, Isla! Every year, my daughter requests a homemade card for her birthday. It must include a word game, and it must be at least as good as last year’s. Every year, in the run up to the special day, I ride the emotional roller coaster from — “What’s wrong with Hallmark?” — […]
Phoenix Turns Eight – Let’s Celebrate!
Two decades ago, at the end of my first gruelling semester of law school, my torts professor, Peter Schuck, proved himself to be, as I’d always suspected, a fellow undercover wordsmith. We had spent the term litigating the fictional libel case of Sands v. Mudd, and were waiting for him to render a final verdict. […]
Re-Imagining a Friend’s Childhood
I recently befriended a beguiling six-year-old named Susie Simpson. My all-grown-up friend, Susan Lennox (nee Simpson), introduced us. Susie lives in a tucked away drawer in Susan’s chest of memories. Susie Simpson used to love to sing Christmas carols in July, wear tights with rainbow stripes and hopscotch her way across the street. But since […]
Letting Down My (En) Garde!
“Of course you can’t beat me. I’ve been fencing half my life,” my son consoled me, after another of our lopsided bouts. “The question is, can you beat you? At the end of your lesson, can you thrash the fencer you were when you began?” How did I find myself cast in this generationally reversed […]
A Year in Squiggles
T’was the night before Christmas, and in my bright kitchen, I sat at my table, a scribblin’ and skitchin’. I wrapped up the skitchin’ (or rather, sketching) around midnight, and eight hours later, my kids (aged 9 and 13) discovered this under the tree: So begins my new annual tradition of tracking their year […]
It Takes a Village to Make a Story . . . And Vice Versa
Writing is a solitary activity, and like most writers, I have a strong reclusive instinct. But I also thrill at the unexpected directions a project can take when others contribute their ideas, talent and life experience. So when a local junior school teacher invited me to deliver a workshop on fractured fairy tales, I asked […]
Two Scoops of Ice Cream and a Side Order of Empathy
How I Celebrated Empathy Day Can an outrageous act of everyday kindness change someone’s life? I put this question to the Year 2 class at Vinehall School, Robertsbridge, E. Sussex, to kick off our Empathy Day workshop. Empathy Day is a bold experiment spearheaded by Empathy Lab, a grassroots UK educational organisation dedicated to using literature to foster […]
An Alpha-ntastic Birthday Card
Remember the frisson of creative anticipation you felt, as a kid, when you constructed an indispensable something-or-other for your parents out of shoe boxes, milk carton caps and pipe cleaners? It turns out that you can re-experience the thrill as an adult, by making birthday cards for the children in your life. This year, I […]