Issue 3 Writer Spotlight | Mark Blackburn
C+B: Tell us about yourself, Mark!
MB: I'm an ex-shoe seller and occasional politician - I've stood for the UK Parliament twice! I'd like to prove that not all politicians are self-seeking. Who knows, I may even stand for office again one day. Whatever way it works out, as we writers know - the pen is always mightier than the sword.
C+B: How has your relationship with your work changed since you first started creating?
MB: More comes from my heart and less from my head.
C+B: Share some details about your process for creating.
MB: I write in the afternoons in my special place having got all the 'worky stuff' out of the way in the morning.
C+B: What is the one accomplishment you most hope to achieve in your creative career?
MB: I would like to bring my full-length work of creative non-fiction, Final Approach: My Book of Airports, to the reading public - it's about so much more than airports!
Find and support Mark here:
IG: @mdhblackburn
Mark describing the genesis of his collection of Covid-centered non-fiction writing, Coronaviral. Read more in Issue 3.
If my work was a meal it would be: A good hearty three course dinner - appetising little starter, quite a meaty main dish and then something at the end to leave a sweet taste.
I would love to be able to share my work with: Antoine Saint-Exupery. A superb writer who wrote serious stuff about life and planes and an amazing children's book - a legacy I aspire to!
If I didn’t write, I would: I used to be the singer in a punk rock band! I'd love to go back to that place and express my thoughts now in riotous song!
My hope for those reading my work: With this work in particular, I hope they can identify with some of the challenges in facing the pandemic that I write about. Maybe they might be able to find some encouragement from that; it would be wonderful if they did.
