What gets found

It was with great pleasure that I received this morning the September/October edition of Resurgence. It is always a happy moment when this ecological journal ('at the heart of earth, art and spirit') lands on the doormat, especially so this time, as a short story of mine appears inside. The theme of this celebratory 250th issue is indigenous cultures around the world - how such peoples, the true stewards of our imperilled biosphere, can offer ancient solutions to 21st Century crises.

Resurgence is a valuable publication that deserves a wide readership. It understands that our environmental crisis is moral and intellectual as well as scientific and economic. It also knows that eulogy can be more effective, as a spur to action, than elegy - even if sometimes it seems impossible to do anything other than lament what we're doing to ourselves.

If you've never seen Resurgence, please visit their website and download a free, trial copy. Or even better, take a subscription. It is a good thing.

Connery and me

So the Edinburgh Festival is coming to a close, and the city seems rather empty and forlorn. The sun has emerged, too, now that the people have gone.

I've been extremely fortunate to get a reviewing gig for the Times Literary Supplement, which has involved seeing as many shows as I can, absolutely free. My impossible attempt to summarise the past month ought to appear in the forthcoming issue.

On the subject of Edinburgh, a friend drew my attention to a recent article about the International Book Festival. Asked by the Independent about fees paid to performers, the organisers insisted that Sir Sean Connery had received the same payment as "an unknown author from Toll Cross". I'm pretty sure that means me; less sure whether to feel chuffed or downhearted.