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Tag Archives: Phd

Graduation day

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Gail Simmons

Earlier this year I was awarded a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Reading, and graduated on a hot, sunny day in July. My old friend and talented portrait photographer took some pictures of me in my raspberry doctoral gown and Tudor-style hat. Thank you Snapdragon Photography!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged creativewriting, graduation, Phd, studying, writing

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Dusky walk this evening. We started as the sun began to set and finished walking home in the dark, our way lit by snow as bright as the moon. #winterwalks #snow #nidderdale #sunset #newyear

It’s au revoir, not goodbye.

Sunset, snow and sheep up on the moor. #wintertime #sunset #nidderdale

Given the horrible weather outside Basil has decided to have a duvet day. #catsofinstagram #catstagram #duvetday #wishiwasacat #winter #christmastime

What I love about visiting old parish churches is seeing how much their parishioners cherish them. Many are still closed due to Covid, but St Leonard’s in South Stoke, West Sussex, let me sit in its porch and shelter from the rain. Someone had put a basket of autumn cyclamen on the windowsill - a living splash of colour against the ancient, peeling stonework. #westsussex #medieval #cyclamen #autumn #fall #england #church #history #architecturelovers

Really chuffed to get this lovely message on Instagram from a reader in the US who enjoyed my book, The Country of Larks. It’s feedback like this that make all the hard work worthwhile! Thank you @tiffstamper @bradtguides #writersofinstagram #travelwriter #naturewriting #history #memoir #rls

For ages I've needed a new head and shoulders shot for my work as my existing ones are a good few years out of date, so last week my friend Anna Watson kindly took one of me whilst on holiday here in the Yorkshire Dales. #notaselfie #portraitphotography

I took photos of this meadow behind our house earlier in the summer when it was thick with wildflowers and lapwings. Yesterday it was mown, the grass now lying in long corrugated rows and drying in the August sunshine. This meadow is rented from Yorkshire Water, who don’t permit early mowing so allowing the wildflowers to grow, insect life to flourish and the lapwings to safely nest and fledge. And, for the farmer, the sweetest hay for winter fodder. #wildflowers #nidderdaleaonb #haymeadow #harvest #lammas #yorkshiredales #summertime

Last week I was walking in West Sussex to research my new book and stumbled upon this holloway. Named on the map Mill Lane, it’s actually part of the Roman road known as Stane Street (stone street), which ran from London to Chichester. Much of this road is now under tarmac, but unmetalled tracts still exist such as this one, worn down into a deep green tunnel by 2,000 years of footfall. #holloway #romanroad #gameofthrones #history #writersofinstagram #westsussex #middleearth #lordoftherings

I love heavy skies on a summer afternoon. That sense of drama, of an impending storm that never quite detonates but dissolves again into clear blue skies. #summerskies #summerstorms #lonetree #englishsummerfabric

I don’t like taking selfies, but today was a special day – after 3.5 months I finally had a haircut! Here are the before and after versions. #haircut #lockdownhair #bigday #selfie

Here’s a selfie taken by my father, before he became my father. It was taken in Libya when he was posted there whilst in the army. My dad is now 89 and I’ve not seen him since November due to lockdown. Hope to see him, and my mum, again soon. #fathersday

I’m doing some background reading for my new book, including this one which I bought secondhand. I always like buying used books if possible, as each has a unique history. I opened this one and a rail ticket from 1980 fell out. Over a 100 years since the book was first published (1914), over 70 years since this edition (1948) and exactly 40 years since its train journey I’m now reading it. I’m using the ticket as a bookmark. #history #greatrailjourneys #literaryclassics #timewarp #england #writersofinstagram

We went on our daily walk this afternoon to buy eggs from our local farm. Never have the buttercup meadows seemed so ... buttery. The farm we buy our eggs from (3rd photo) reminds us of Laurie Lee’s family in Cider with Rosie - a melee of barefoot children, bleating lambs, hens scuttling all over the road. Laura, the mum, always seems to have her hands full, and her husband is a farm labourer who recently cut off the top of one of his fingers in an accident with agricultural machinery. Laura always puts one blue egg into the half dozen that she sells us. #countrylife #lockdown #yorkshiredales #nidderdale #ciderwithrosie

Our neighbouring buttercup and clover meadow up close. There are lots of other wildflowers in the meadow that I don’t know the name of. The more you look, the more you see. #wildflowers #spring #nidderdaleaonb #prettyflowers🌸 #meadow

Buttercup and clover meadow behind our house yesterday, in daytime and at dusk (two photos). I saw two hares in it last night. #spring #meadow #wildflowers #yorkshiredales #nidderdale

Nidderdale on our early evening walk. I love these isolated stone field barns and stately old trees. High cloud, cold wind, sunshine. Spring comes late to these Northern hills. #nidderdale #spring #yorkshiredales #nature #walking #bluesky

If you’re looking for a lockdown read, and haven’t already read it, then I thoroughly recommend this bestselling travel/nature memoir, The Salt Path. I interviewed its author, Raynor Winn, for our MA Travel & Nature Writing students on Thursday evening and she is an absolute delight. I’m also reviewing her forthcoming book, The Wild Silence, for Resurgence magazine. It’s a worthy sequel! @raynor.winn @penguinukbooks @bathspauni #thesaltpath #naturewriting #travelwriting #southwestcoastalpath #bestseller

I don’t know what was more fun – making wild garlic pesto, or making the movie of making wild garlic pesto! #wildgarlic #foragedfood #foraging #spring #lockdowncooking #notadomesticgoddess

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