Book after Book

To celebrate International Women's Day, I decided to share my favourite quote from Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own : By hook or by crook, I hope that you will possess yourselves of money enough to travel and to idle, to contemplate the future or the past of the world, to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thoought dip deep into the stream. During a recent visit to Review , a wonderful independent bookshop in Peckham, I noticed this delightful hand-written sign / exhortation: #ReadWomen To help you get started, here is a round-up of titles by female writers from around the web: 50 books to celebrate International Women's Day 365 books by women authors to celebrate International Women's Day all year 10 books to read on International Women's Day What will you be reading today?

By Angelica Garnett Published by Pimlico Synopsis: Angelica Garnett may truly be called a child of Bloomsbury. Her Aunt was Virginia Woolf, her mother Vanessa Bell, and her father Duncan Grant, though for many years Angelica believed herself, naturally enough, the daughter of Vanessa's husband Clive. Her childhood homes, Charleston in Sussex and Gordon Square in London, were both centres of Bloomsbury activity, and she grew up surrounded by the most talked-about writers and artists of the day - Leonard and Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry, the Stracheys, Maynard Keynes, David Garnett (whom she later married), and many others. But Deceived with Kindness is also a record of a young girl's particular struggle to achieve independence from that extraordinary and intense milieu as a mature and independent woman. With an honesty that is by degrees agonising and uplifting, the author creates a vibrant, poignant picture of her mother, Vanessa Bell, of her own emergent individuality,...

Virginia Woolf's country retreat at Monk's House , Rodmell, Sussex

Oh, to be able to sit at that desk! Virginia Woolf's country retreat at Monk's House , Rodmell, Sussex.

The Iambic Arts Theatre is a little gem hidden away in the centre of Brighton’s North Laines. Bringing the public a selection of high quality plays, poetry and music events under the guidance of Artistic Director Emma D’Arcy, this month the theatre hosted Vita and Virginia: A love relationships in two acts , directed by Alison Grant. Dramatized by actress and playwright Eileen Atkins, the show was originally produced by The Players Collective in Lewes in 2011 and, not surprisingly, it was performed to critical acclaim. I knew that I was going to love the play even before the two actresses - Valerie Dent in the role of Virginia Woolf and Tamar K. Karpas in the role of Vita Sackville-West - recited their first lines. The attention to detail that was evident from the stage setting and the costumes could only be a sign of good things to come! And so it was: from the very first words used by Tamar/Vita to describe her first impressions about Valerie/Virginia to their joint recital of a pas...