From 2018 to 2021 I was a member of the Performance Ensemble, a theatre company that specialises and delights in telling stories from real life. Part of my job as editor/dramaturg was to edit these stories and you can read some of them here:
As for my own writing… Take a look below for a selection of some of the things I have written, both for the British press, and here, on my own website.
1. Newspaper Articles
2. On:Yorkshire Magazine GardenColumns, Arts Features and Book/Theatre Reviews
3. Blogs and short stories about Hungary
4. Insights into Reiki and T’ai Chi
5. Walking and Wellbeing
1. Newspaper Articles
Writing books and features has been an integral part of my professional life for well over thirty years, alongside my teaching and dance theatre work.
The early theatre and book reviews and features – for Tribune, New Statesman, City Limits and The Leveller, are lost now to a pre-digital era. Two of the three books I have published, ‘Flowers in Hell: An Investigation into Women and Crime’ (Pandora) and ‘A Handful of Earth’ (John Murray) are also officially out of print, but copies can be tracked down easily enough on Amazon here and here.
‘Old Dog’ (Simon and Schuster), the latest memoir, is still going strong.
Since 2005, I have been contributing features and reviews for UK national newspapers and magazines, in particular the Guardian, Femail, and Psychologies Magazine, and have been a regular columnist for On: Yorkshire Magazine.
Here is a taste of some of my feature work.
The Guardian:
Mother and Garden June 2017
Our Family Festival April 2016
Theatre of Sanctuary November 2015
Grandmother’s Hands June 2012
Fathers and Daughters August 2011
Rescue Dog September 2008
Mother and Daughter January 2008
Blooming in the Shadows July 2005
Femail:
Living Alone April 2015
Mother-in-Law, Best Friend February 2015
Old Dog book extract July 2013
Female Friendship October 2012
Love of a Good Dog August 2011
2. On: Yorkshire Magazine
I have written for On Magazine, under the redoubtable editorship of Matt Callard, since 2008: first when it was a glossy print magazine – and I was gardening correspondent, and arts feature writer; and now that it is online – and my main focus is book reviewing. Here is a general link to my archive:
Barney Bardsley at On:Yorkshire Magazine
And here are some highlights:
Hungarian Book Review: András Forgách
3. Blogs about Hungary
Hungary is a beautiful, though beleaguered, little country right in the middle of Central Europe. It stole my heart the first time I ever went there, in the dead of a communist winter, 1988, and it has never given it back. Now I visit regularly, write fiction and non-fiction about my relationship with the place, and translate Hungarian poetry and literary fiction. (But slowly. Hungarian is a fiendishly hard language!) You can read the cycle of five short stories I have written, inspired by Hungary, on my blogs, below. Beneath that, links to some non fiction blogs and poems about the place.
Hungary Short Stories
1. Hungarian Love Letters 1: Nothing to Declare
2. Hungarian Love Letters 2: Falling Man
3. Hungarian Love Letters 3: House of Spirits
4. Hungarian Love Letters 4: Don’t Talk to Her
5. Hungarian Love Letters 5: Queen of the Castle
Hungary Non-Fiction and Poetry
Homesick poem February 2018
Sheer Poetry September 2017
Budapest haiku April 2017
Alone in the city October 2016
In a Cottage by the Lake September 2015
Poems and Pálinka July 2015
Radio Waves June 2015
4. Insights into Reiki and T’ai Chi
I have practised and taught T’ai Chi for over 30 years and it is a beautiful movement art. As a kind of meditation in movement, it is also liberating for the mind. Recently, I have added Reiki to my repertoire, and it has been striking how compatible the two techniques are – one Chinese, the other Japanese – with both of them tapping into the basic life force or ‘ki/chi’ that flows in and around us. It is noticeable how much easier the words flow, now that I have Reiki at my side. So it taps into my writing ability, as well as my basic wellbeing. Here is a link to my Reiki in Leeds page, where you can see the blogs that I’ve written on this subject:
REIKI BLOGS from November 2018 onwards.
5. Walking and Well Being
Walking has been a good antidote to stress in my life over recent years, as well as a source of great enjoyment and well being. Early on in the life of this website, I wrote a few blogs on the subject, which are linked below, with the themes Walking Back Home and Wild Wednesdays.
Walking Back Home 1: Hungary April 2015
Walking Back Home 2: Trains May 2015
Walking Back Home 3: Temple Newsam May 2015
Walking Back Home 4: Water June 2015
Walking Back Home 5: View August 2015
Walking Back Home 6: Autumn Leaves October 2015
Wild Wednesdays 1: Rocks March 2016
Wild Wednesdays 2: Sea March 2016
Wild Wednesdays 3: Wood April 2016
Wild Wednesdays 4: Walking the Hill Road: May 2016
Barefoot Barney 