Skolion News

Icy Sedgwick shares her love of folklore and how it's enriched her creativity My love affair with folklore started with a small book from a Northumbrian castle. It was more of a pamphlet, really – a handful of pages in a cardboard cover, stapled at the spine. There was a whole series of them that I went on to collect. Each one contained tales of ghosts, fairies, monsters, and ghouls.  Heinous murders and bloody revenge stained some of the stories, while the others glittered with the promise of magic. Make no mistake, these were not the cute fairies of Disney, or the "wise Fae" so beloved of the Mind Body Spirit crowd. These were the fairies that struck bargains and made sure you read the small print. Perfect reading for a pre-teen, wouldn’t you think? Whether I've been conscious of it or not, folklore has rippled through many of the short stories and novels I've produced. Except my first western, but what are westerns if not modern myths?  But this post isn’t abo...

Icy Sedgwick shares some of the wisdom we can learn from a great master artist The United Kingdom has been spoiled for all things Leonardo da Vinci this year (2019). The genius inventor and painter died 500 years ago, in 1519. To celebrate, we had the 'Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing' exhibition. 200 drawings from the Queen's collection went on display around the country. The British Library are hosting the ‘Leonardo da Vinci: A Mind in Motion’ exhibition until 8 September 2019. We often think of da Vinci as an artist. Or an inventor. And we know about his many notebooks. But we don’t always think of him as a writer.  Still, he’s an inspiration to writers. Here are five lessons you can learn from da Vinci and the way he approached his work. And I’m a huge fan of the journaling. So, I’ve also included journal prompts to help you unpick your own writing habits. Be Multi Passionate Many associate da Vinci with Renaissance art, particularly in the form of the Mona Lisa. Y...