I. I have recently begun a project to create a small booklet about communicating with people with dementia; its working title is Beyond Words and  it is inspired by the work of Professor Liz Barry at Warwick University, who writes about how communication does not have to be in words but instead can be a form of playful improvisation, using facial expression, mime, mirroring, gestures, body-language, nonsense-words and laughter. I was very moved by the ideas and images in the paper, and it has changed how I relate to my life-partner (who has Alzheimer’s disease). So I decided to ask Liz if we could turn the research into a booklet that would potentially reach a much wider audience than her academic work. To my delight, she said yes, and the project is now well under way! Do feel free to contact me with any questions at lesley574@btinternet.com …

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II. On my poetry workshops page I mentioned the name of Rebecca Swainston, an artist who lives in Reading and whose work I encountered in 2020. I was so taken with her work that in the summer of 2025 I commissioned her to paint my portrait. You can visit her website at https://rebeccaswainston.co.uk

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III. I’m delighted to have been invited to be on the editorial committee of a new online journal Antenna, hosted by the medical humanities programme of Lisbon University; go to https://humanidadesmedicas.letras.ulisboa.pt/en/creative-journal-antena/ for information about how to submit work.