Alice Spencer
Dhanee, A Maldivian Goodbye
In the last few days, a delicate stillness has had hold of Soneva Jani. We have fewer guests at this time of year and the lagoon, which...
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Alice Spencer
Apr 10, 20213 min read
Island Interview: All Things Learning with Visiting Oppidan EducationTutors Courtney and Maddy
Visiting the Maldives is a time for relaxation, sunbathing, diving, swimming and taking in the beautiful surroundings. For children, it’s...
Alice Spencer
Apr 6, 20213 min read
Holi: An Indian Celebration
The Maldives Islands are just a stone’s throw (that may be an exaggeration) from the South West coast of India and so, as you’d expect,...
Alice Spencer
Mar 26, 20213 min read
Cinema Paradiso, To Die for Sushi and Books to the Big Screen
On the southern tip of Soneva Jani are Cinema Paradiso and Directors Cut, an outdoor cinema and a Japanese restaurant. The cinema screen...
Alice Spencer
Mar 20, 20213 min read
Roger Recommends: Soneva Jani’s World Class Wellness Practitioner on his Favourite Books
Yesterday I walked out of the Soneva Jani overseas spa in a daze, clutching two pieces of paper with what can only be described as...
Alice Spencer
Mar 13, 20214 min read
The Life of an Island Tennis Professional
Soneva Jani is the 1.8km long island that I’m currently calling home. Despite being such a small part of the world, it is filled with...
Alice Spencer
Mar 6, 20213 min read
The Women Of Soneva On Authors That Inspire Them For International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day is next week and there will be celebrations around the world. At Soneva there is drive to hire more women on...
Alice Spencer
Feb 26, 20213 min read
Green Fingers: Soneva Jani’s Glorious Gardens
February is the sunniest and driest month in the Maldives. Although the official temperature never changes much from 29 degrees Celsius,...
Alice Spencer
Feb 20, 20213 min read
Staying Afloat: Soneva In Aqua and My Favourite Books in the Water
As I turned the key in the lock of the bookshop for my lunch break last week, I received a call asking if I wanted to join a group of...
Alice Spencer
Feb 12, 20214 min read
Diving Deep into the Maldivian Marine World: An Interview with Marine Biologist Ellie Butler
For a lot of Maldivian people and tourists, more time is spent in the ocean around the islands than on land. I spoke to Ellie Butler, the...
Alice Spencer
Feb 8, 20214 min read
Folk Tales of the Maldives
One of the joys of being on Soneva Jani is working with Maldivian people. Before I came here I had never met anyone from the Maldives,...
Alice Spencer
Jan 30, 20214 min read
A New Wave of Island Reading
It might seem obvious, but getting 104 boxes of books from the UK to a tiny island somewhere in the Indian Ocean during a pandemic that...
Alice Spencer
Jan 21, 20213 min read
Exclusive Extract: We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan
In my blog post about my favourite reads of 2020, I included We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan, a cinematic and brilliant debut...
Alice Spencer
Jan 14, 20214 min read
Writing To Remember
Since I arrived on Soneva Jani, most nights before I go to sleep I challenge myself to remember everything I’ve done the day before. Even...
Alice Spencer
Jan 9, 20214 min read
Another Literary Year: Alice's Favourite Reads of 2020
Christmas and New Year festivities on Soneva Jani were big and noisy, sparkly and fun. All the normal over indulgence was happily done...
Alice Spencer
Dec 31, 20203 min read
To the Moon and Back: Interview with Soneva Jani Astronomer Maavin Faure
A couple of weeks ago I was at the top of the Soneva Jani astronomy tower with resident astronomer Maavin Faure telling him how I’d only...
Alice Spencer
Dec 19, 20203 min read
Where There’s a Worry, There’s a Novel: The Rise of Climate Change Fiction.
“You chose to go litter picking on your lunch break?!” an incredulous friend asks me on the phone this week. “Well yes”, I explain. “But...
Alice Spencer
Dec 12, 20203 min read
Island Life - A New Way to Live
If you move five thousand, three hundred miles around the world, you might expect to be met with a slightly different way of life. I am...
Alice Spencer
Dec 4, 20202 min read
The Chapters Along the Way
The launch of the shop on Soneva Jani is within touching distance now, so as the finishing flourishes are being put in place, I thought...
Alice Spencer
Nov 27, 20203 min read
From the Press Office to Paradise: An Introduction to Alice
‘Excuse the unprofessional language but omggggg!!!!!!!!!!’ was how I responded to the email offering me the job to become one of Ultimate...
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