Life Writing – Page 2

The film of ‘Take Me With You’

It’s already three weeks since Tim and I put on Take Me With You: the Museum of Friendship, Remembrance and Loss at Brighton and Sussex Medical School on 18 February. Many thanks indeed to all who came along and joined us that evening. We really enjoyed the event, although (just like real life) it didn’t…

Take Me With You: the Museum of Friendship, Remembrance and Loss

Take Me With You: the Museum of Friendship, Remembrance and Loss 6.00-8.30 pm, Thursday 18 February 2016 at the Chowen Lecture Theatre, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Falmer Campus BN1 9PX Museum open from 6.00 pm Clare Best and Tim Andrews in conversation (+q&a) 6.30-7.30 pm Drinks reception from 7.30 pm Museum open until 8.30 pm…

Making ‘Vacant Possession’ – a site-specific performance to say goodbye to a house (written by Sara Clifford and Clare Best, directed by Nicola Blackwell)

Sometimes good things come out of disappointments. Sara and I had planned a Writers in Residence event at the University of Brighton for late April, themed around collaboration and site-specific work. Speakers and space were booked, but the date was too close to exams, and on the night we found ourselves in a small circle…

Touching the Core

‘If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.’ Gospel of St Thomas I thoroughly enjoyed the Self-portrait without Breasts event at Kings College London on February 24th. A huge…

The work of waiting

‘The more Susan waited, the more the doorbell didn’t ring. Or the phone.’ Douglas Adams – Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency I’ve always liked Advent – the idea of waiting by preparing. Active waiting. Years ago, when I was waiting and hoping for a baby, I bought a handmade crib in a hilltop town in Provence….

Bloggin’ the Blog

I’ve recently written a couple of linked pieces for the BMJ Medical Humanities Blog, about cutting and editing, scars and memories. Thank you to the editor, Deborah Bowman, for inviting me to contribute. The pieces are online here: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2014/04/13/guest-post-by-poet-and-writer-clare-best-on-cutting-and-editing-and-scars-and-memories/ http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2014/04/21/guest-blog-post-by-poet-and-writer-clare-best-part-2-on-scars-and-memories/

Seven-year itch

I can’t quite believe I’m now seven years post-op. What is it about seven years? Some urban myth that every single cell in the body has renewed itself in that time (skin is quick to renew itself in seven days, bones take longer – several to seven years, and it seems most other organs are…

A day

Sometimes I wonder, just wonder, if I should try and take life a bit slower. Then I do try and it doesn’t really work. Because one thing that living with the threat of inherited disease has done for me is to make me very determined to live as fully as possible. I give myself over…

‘Bodies of Work’

I am pleased to present, as a round-up of this year’s work on the project, the text of an article I wrote for issue 9 of Artemis Poetry, November 2012. My thanks to Kay Syrad for inviting me to write this piece and to Dilys Wood and Anne Stewart of Artemis Poetry for kind permission…

Sitting with Laura’s images in the Forum

The morning after the Self-portrait without Breasts event at Exeter University, I spent a couple of hours sitting in the Forum, a little distance from the exhibition of Laura’s photos. I really wanted to study the images up close, admire the quality of Laura’s work, the quality of the prints (which is superb) but I…