Time for some ego-boosting

I've had a wave of rejections. Time to remind myself that there's hope yet.

Literary firsts

First competition win

First time I was offered a book contract

First entry in British Library catalogue

My first book launch

First time I wrote a blurb

First time I saw a book of mine in a bookshop

Review extracts

• "A very satisfying collection"
• "A fine intelligent collection"
• "remarkable for their freight of experience, assured grasp of line, and a poetic sensibility as confident as it is unusual"
• "unmistakeable authority of experience"
• "precision and tactile immediacy"
• "a wonderful ear"
• "an intense and rewarding read"
• "he writes exceptionally well about children"
• "What’s most winning, for me, is his really human touch"
• "The strength of the personae in the pamphlet is the thing that attracts attention"
• "The language is deceptively plain but is deftly spiced with originality"
• "skilled metre is matched by a deep understanding of the measured world"