Dearest Friends—

Welcome back to our weekly Dark Angels Note.

You’ll notice that we're switching up the content format for the next few months. Rest assured we’ll be rounding the spotlight back on the Dark Angels community in the near future. In the meantime, please do send us your news so we can spread the word in the ‘Sharing’ section below. 

Observing

This week marks the birthday of French playwright, novelist and screenwriter, Françoise Sagan (1935 - 2004). This thrill-seeking tomboy drove racing cars barefoot around Saint Tropez, won literary acclaim for writing the novella Bonjour tristesse aged 18 and took so many drugs that her dog overdosed from sniffing her handkerchiefs. Sagan's debts and scandals meant that the years before her death in 2004 were spent in misery as the taxman hoovered up every last penny. 

Reading

“For Bonjour tristesse all I started with was the idea of a character, the girl, but nothing really came of it until my pen was in hand. I have to start to write to have ideas.”Read her blisteringly honest interview in The Paris Review: The Art of Fiction No. 15. 

Writing

In that interview, Sagan observes, “For me writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz.”Turn on the radio, use the shuffle feature on your smartphone. Write something in response to the first song you hear. 

Sharing

In this section, we’d love for you to share all the wonderful things you’re doing and writing with the wider Dark Angels family. Send us your poems, writings, links and writerly whatnots. 

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Diary

We are Nature: Aracena, 23rd – 28th September
We have almost reached capacity for this September’s long-awaited return to Finca El Tornero del Rebollar with Neil and Gillian. There are still some roomshare combinations available in the house and space for two tents in the garden. Interested? Check out more details on the course here, or email Susanne directly.

Weekly Tuesday Gatherings
There will be an intermittent service of Tuesday gatherings over the next few weeks, as we take a break for the summer. Neil will be hosting on June 28, July 12 and August 16. Back to normal from August 30.Join us for a reflective hour of reading, writing and communing led by Neil Baker. Everyone is welcome; in fact invite a friend along. We meet at 7pm UK time. To join us, click here on the night. There’s no need to register in advance and we’ll be using the same link every week from now on. 

Be well, keep reading, keep writing and know that we’re always here.

From everyone at Dark Angels 
Photo by Laura Rivera on Unsplash