In my blog post about my favourite reads of 2020, I included We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan, a cinematic and brilliant debut novel from the #Merky Books New Writer's Prize winner. The book is publishing today and in celebration, this weeks' blog is an exclusive extract kindly supplied by #Merky Books. We Are All Birds of Uganda is a dual narrative, with the modern day story told through the eyes of Sameer and the past told through letters written by Hasan. Here we

Christmas and New Year festivities on Soneva Jani were big and noisy, sparkly and fun. All the normal over indulgence was happily done and New Year was celebrated with performances from fire throwers, acrobats, musicians, dancers, a magician and an opera singer. New Year often brings reflection, and I’ve been thinking a lot about all of the books I’ve read this year. Like lots of us, I’ve had the opportunity to read a lot more than usual. I started writing down all the books

The launch of the shop on Soneva Jani is within touching distance now, so as the finishing flourishes are being put in place, I thought I’d share some books that are important to me. I think that we can really pinpoint books that have been present through the formative moments in our lives so here are the ones that have informed, entertained and inspired me in my 27 years on this planet so far. Young adult books are so crucial in encouraging life-long reading habits and Nough