Words of the Year – Spitalfields Life

Cathy Olmedillas, editor of Anorak, explains why, for her, the year’s best writing came from a local blog:

“My favourite online read this year has been the wonderful Spitalfields Life, which, even though it is online, is more like reading a book that magically updates itself every day. You really don’t have to live in the East End to enjoy this blog, although, yes, it does help. It tells the stories of the ordinary folk who live or have lived in the area with bags of respect and consideration, and gives them a voice that we would normally not hear. Amazingly it is updated every day and carries beautifully written portraits or interviews of local people, so that you discover who is behind the facades you walk by every day.

“Thanks to Spitalfields Life, I discovered a series of books called Ordinary Lives by Clive Murphy, which is based on a series of interviews he did with a few characters who lived in the area in the 1960s. The beauty of these memoirs is that they are recordings of interviews by the author – when reading them you really hear the protagonists’ voices and gain a great insight into their lives and personalities.”