Helen Grant

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Greenlight for girls

There are not many things which make me want to get up at 06.00 on a Saturday morning, but today I added one to the list (the others include climbing Ben Lomond, scuba diving off Weymouth and nabbing a turn at the only tap on an Indian campsite before anyone else got up, if you must know). I have just taken my daughter to a science day for girls being held at the International School of Brussels, which opened at 08.00, hence the horrendously early start, since we live half an hour's drive away.

The day is being run by Greenlight for Girls, an International NGO with the mission to encourage girls to consider a future in maths, science, engineering and technology by introducing them to the world of science in fun and exciting ways. It's a fabulous opportunity for girls to meet high-achieving women (and men) working in science, and to try out a variety of workshops and experiments. It's a whole-day event including lunch and amazingly, thanks to the organisation's sponsors, it's entirely free.

I dropped my daughter off at the registration desk, where she received her programme for the day and disappeared off to get herself a lab coat. Since my sole scientific qualifications are two ancient 'O'levels in Maths and Biology, I'm rather an outsider to the world of science. The only time I see a lab coat is at the doctor's or the pharmacy, so it made a very strong visual impression on me, seeing so many women and girls wearing them. Let's hope it's a uniform many of today's participants will continue to wear in the future.

I'll post again later when I've heard how my daughter got on!

You can read about the event and about Greenlight for Girls on their website, here:

http://www.greenlightforgirls.org/

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Glass Demon rights sold in Turkey!

I'm delighted to report that the Turkish rights to The Glass Demon have been sold to Derin Kitap! Details in due course.

Book signing, 6th November 2010

A big thank you to Octavia and Jo and everyone at Waterstone's in Cirencester for organising my book signing event last Saturday. Thanks also to William Bond for producing the super publicity material. A special mention too for Ben, one of my oldest friends, who travelled from London specially!

To everyone who attended and bought signed books - or just stopped to chat - it was great to see you.

Visit to St. Mary's Church, Fairford.

As my long-suffering family and friends will testify, I have a bit of a "thing" about Renaissance stained glass. Whenever we are travelling about and I spot an interesting-looking church, I am prone to stopping the car and begging everyone else for "just five minutes" whilst I look to see whether there is any original glass left. Nine times out of ten I come out again looking disgusted (plain glass or some horrible later replacement) but now and again there is something really beautiful to see.

I became interested in the subject after researching the stained glass of Steinfeld Abbey (featured in the English ghost story "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" by M.R.James). Up until that point I had no idea how little glass of that period (1500s) survives. It is also very rare to see it in its original setting. The Steinfeld glass, and the equally gorgeous Mariawald glass, are now mostly the inmates of museums.

It was therefore a rare and fabulous treat for me to visit St. Mary's Church in Fairford, Gloucestershire, last week whilst I was in England. The Fairford glass is of the same period as the Steinfeld glass but amazingly, it is still in its original setting and virtually undamaged (a few windows were damaged by a storm in the early 1700s but most of the windows are perfect). The great west window includes one of the most stunning Last Judgement scenes I have ever seen, complete with demons.

A big vote of thanks to William Bond for taking me to Fairford, and also for taking a brilliant set of photographs of the glass for use in the upcoming book trailer for The Glass Demon. As the Fairford glass is of exactly the same period as the fictional Allerheiligen glass in my book, it was ideal - there is even a fire-belching "Bonschariant". If you are ever in the area, take a look - a unique chance to see real glass demons!