Every year I teach dozens of students at the University of Birmingham. Most of the students on the gender and sexuality courses are women. I guess this is because the boys don't think that gender applies to them: that it's a subject for girls.

The richest most meaningful stories are found in small places: made, carried, crafted, told, and retold by apparently unimportant people.

Remember that what you have is unique because it's your own special way of looking at the world.

The Dancing Girls of Lahore was offered to dozens of British publishers and was turned down by everyone. It is still on offer in the U.K., but I'm not confident there will be any takers.