I am thrilled to be one of the judges of this year’s New Media Writing Prize, which highlights inspiring work, raises awareness and provokes discussion about new media writing, the future of the ‘written’ word and storytelling.It is run by Bournemouth University, and supported by if:book uk.

Anyone can enter, and it’s free. The deadline is 5th October 2012. Visit the competition website for full details.

I was honoured to be asked to be on the selection panel for Neville Gabie’s The Greatest Distance project, along with Writer and critic, David Lillington, Artist and writer Bill Drummond, curator Danielle Arnaud, Archaeologist and sports historian, Jason Wood, Arts Consultant Sam Wilkinson.

We met at the Danielle Arnaud Gallery on 8th June to discuss over 100 proposals suggesting where Neville should go, and what he should do there, in order to achieve the greatest possible distance from the Olympics at the moment of the opening ceremony. It was a fascinating (and difficult) process. Visit Neville’s blog to hear some audio files of our conversation and see where the project is at.

I was asked to write a new short story inspired by shortlisted entries to Wandsworth Council’s photoWANDSWORTH competition. An illustrated version of the story, called In View, is now available to download from Wandsworth Council’s website.

Selected images with story excerpts were displayed as a show-reel on library computers and at Southside Shopping Centre, as projections as part of the Wandsworth Arts Festival, May 27. I also read the story as part of the prize giving event at Wandsworth Town Library on 23rd April 2012.

Here’s a slightly excrutiating picture of me reading at the prize-giving event at Wandsworth Town Library

Wandsworth Council invited me to create a new short story, based on winning entries to their photoWANDSWORTH 2012 competition.

The photoWANDSWORTH 2012 prize-giving event takes place from 5.30 to 7.30pm on Monday 23 April at Wandsworth Town Library, 11 Garratt Lane, London SW18 4AQ

Join us over a glass of wine to hear me read from my new short story, written in response to twelve selected entries to the competition. Prizes will be awarded for winning photographs in three categories: first, second and young person award.

The selected images with story excerpts will be displayed as a show-reel on library computers and across the road at Southside Shopping Centre, as projections. The projections will remain at Southside until the end of the Wandsworth Arts Festival, May 27. The full story will be available to download from www.wandsworth.gov.uk/photocomp with printouts for all those attending the event.

Please RSVP: jkenyon@wandsworth.gov.uk

Below is a short reflection on creating the story:

First of all I had to come up with a series of prompts for the competition. The aim was to inspire entrants to create images that would in turn inspire me to write a new short story. I chose 4 themes that I hoped would help me create a coherent plot and allow entrants a fairly free reign:
1. Arrival of a Stranger
2. A secret is revealed
3. Demanding an answer
4. Looking for a way out

I was struck, looking through the 12 selected images, how many of them were of people with their faces turned away from the camera, or partially obscured. Then there was someone running in the fog, frost on a playground, the blurred edges of a scene from Wandsworth Common, a hand reaching into a bag, lost objects by the river – all of which gave me an overriding feeling of loss and mystery, of things being just out of reach and not quite knowable. So I started to plan a story that would explore these emotions in its plot, and in the atmosphere of the story itself. Having made this decision, I then used the individual photographs in different ways – to suggest emotion, character, plot, and location. So the man sitting alone on a bench I imagined as the story’s narrator, waiting for a woman who never turned up. The hat and shoe by the side of the Thames became the narrator’s lost children. The runner in the fog became a dream, symbolic of loss. The car driving over Chelsea bridge at night gave me my final scene. I also tried to embed the very idea of photography and the theme of seeing or not seeing within the story, borrowing imagery and language from photography to further explore the themes of the story.

I would like to thank Wandsworth Council for the opportunity to be involved with PHOTOwandsworth 2012, and the competition entrants for giving me such rich material to work with.

I am thrilled that Picador have bought world rights for my novel, Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love (and they will also publish my next, as yet unwritten, novel) . It is the third novel I’ve written, and it’s something I’ve been working on since 2007. I’m discovering it’s quite overwhelming to actually achieve your life ambition!

The novel brings together my interest in place, belonging, home and family. In some ways it’s a love letter to London, a city I’ve lived in since 2004 and have not always had an easy relationship with.

Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love will be published in February 2013.

Thursday 16th February
5.00-7.00pm
Cuming Museum, Old Walworth Town Hall, 151 Walworth Road, London, SE17 1RY (map)
Refreshments provided – all welcome

Please join myself and artist, Eva Sajovic to celebrate the end of Collecting Home, an artist residency at the Cuming Museum exploring objects, home and local stories, and the close of Home From Home, an exhibition of portraits and stories from Elephant and Castle.

5.00- 6.30pm
– Move between three conversation points throughout the museum space, and share your ideas about the residency themes: what object in your life would you most hate to lose? What is the value of artist projects in Elephant and Castle? What are the ethics and dilemmas of participatory arts projects? What does it mean to represent individuals and communities through photos, stories and objects?
– Place your ‘bid’ to take home one of the Home from Home exhibition pictures for free (photos will be allocated and be available to collect after 18th February).
– Explore the work created by Eva, Sarah, local residents, school children, and artists throughout the project.
6.30pm – A brief presentation by Eva and Sarah, sharing highlights from the project.
7.00pm – Close