Made in Nottingham

Made in Nottingham: A Writer's Return

Five Leaves Publications

A Writer's Return

by Peter Mortimer

The Tyneside writer Peter Mortimer is used to writing about difficult places. Against Foreign Office advice he wandered round Yemen. He set up a children's theatre group in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon and, over one summer, he walked the length of Britain with one dog and no money, dependent on the kindness of strangers to provide accommodation and food.
In this book, part memoir, part documentary and social commentary, he undertook a shorter journey, taking up residence in the same street he grew up in, on the Sherwood council estate in Nottingham. His sojourn makes for an unpredictable, often comic, sometimes painful journey. And his book tells us how Nottingham was then, and how Nottingham is now.
From Mortimer's introduction: "...by April 2011, with Notts County once again facing the familiar situation of a relegation battle, I was ready to up sticks from the familiarity of Tyneside, and plonk myself down into the once intimate, yet now alien world of Sherwood Estate, where almost half a century had passed since my life there, a timespan of almost unbridgeable proportions.
"And what exactly did I expect to achieve or prove? I had few answers, except a strong instinct told me to return, and from the experience, discover some context, something of relevance."
Made in Nottingham is available from Inpress at www.inpress.co.uk priced £8.99, P&P free in the UK. It is also available from other outlets, including some local bookshops.