‘On social media, Twitter and text messages, I do try to couch my messages in eloquent, pithy words though. It seems important to me.’
Erik Martiny talks to Amélie Cordonnier.
Poetry | Temporary Shores by Holly Pollard
‘And again – I arrive to set out my fears, / to still rot in watery luck.’
New poetry by Holly Pollard.
Review | Biba: A Legacy Lost and Found by Deborah Nash
‘As our high streets struggle to survive changing shopping habits, brought by the pandemic, the rising cost of living and online purchasing, perhaps we need to revisit Biba’s spirit of playfulness, optimism and laughter – an opportunity unfortunately missed by this show.’
Deborah Nash on The Biba Story at The Fashion and Textile Museum.
Interview | Phoebe Stuckes on her chilling debut, Dead Animals
‘Our world is quite self-validating at the moment, and not always for the right reasons.’
We spoke to Phoebe Stuckes about her debut novel, Dead Animals, out today.
Interview | Can Sun’s Playful yet Profound Sculptural Universe
‘I hope my works, whether they are playful or cruel, can more or less point towards the ultimate proposition — absurdity.’
We spoke to Can Sun about his forthcoming show, Brusies, at Mandy Zhang Art.
Fiction | The Refusal by Franz Kafka
‘The petition has been refused,’ he announced. ‘You may go.’
Fiction by Franz Kafka.
Interview | An Interview with Megan McDowell
‘At the time that I was reading it and falling in love with it, I wasn’t thinking, “Oh, I want to be a translator.” But that book started my love affair with translated literature as a reader.’
Terry Craven talks to Megan McDowell, one of the judge’s for this year’s Desperate Literature Short Story Prize.
Interview | The Radical Fabrics of Marcellina Akpojotor
‘For me, it’s a beautiful experience to be able to feel the materials with my hands while working.’
We spoke to Marcellina Akpojotor about her forthcoming show, Joy of more Worlds, at Rele Gallery.
Review | Rachael Allen’s God Complex by Elliot C. Mason
‘The demands of the male observer are hidden, his words never breaking through from the silent ubiquity of their god complex.’
Elliot C. Mason reviews Rachael Allen’s God Complex.
Essay | Giving Up by Christiana Spens
‘All at once, it felt nihilistic and misguided. I had been on this extended fast, but it was devoted to absent men and not any real god. As such, there had been no revelation or resolution, no peace.’
Christiana Spens on Lent.
Review | Care, Spit, and Queer Confessional: 52 Monologues by Jennifer Jasmine White
‘When we confess, we spit something out, something previously secret and slippery, something summoned up from deep inside.’
Jennifer Jasmine White reviews 52 Monologues at the Soho Theatre.
Fiction | Some Woman Doing Crazy Dancing by Jane Messer
‘She was so very, very fortunate, yes, she was.’
New fiction by Jane Messer.
Fiction | Volunteers by Laura Shaine Cunningham
‘For several long minutes, nothing changed. We seemed to be opposite and equal forces.’
New fiction by Laura Shaine Cunningham.
Fiction | hardened skin by Serena Coady
‘They were lying in his bed, intertwined, when Sylvi ran her fingers along his chest tattoos, and asked how many he had. In return, he asked for her number. But Sylvi didn’t have any tattoos.’
New fiction by Serena Coady.
Interview | Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year shortlistee Michael Magee on writing class, masculinity, and his debut, Close to Home
‘I had to find my own distance from the material I was writing, particularly because it was so close to my own experience. In the early stages of composition, I was almost bogged down by it. I didn’t know how to step back.’
Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year shortlistee Michael Magee on his debut novel, Close to Home.
Fiction | Of Milky Kindness
‘Then I told him he looked like a lop-sided Trent Reznor and didn’t he want to kiss me? This is a kind of flirting. This has never not worked.’
Fiction by Sarah Fletcher.
Reviews | The Lasting Legacy of Bert Hardy’s War Photographs
‘Whilst his subjects range widely, Hardy’s style is constant. Even in the theatre of war, he managed to keep his frame still.’
Henry Roberts reviews Bert Hardy: Photojournalism in War at the Photographers’ Gallery.
Interview | Thomas Gardner on Running, Writing, and the Art of Discovery
‘Then as I was writing I was drawing this Exodus-like pillar of cloud, this memory of my brother, out of the dreamscape, out of the fog of the morning.’
Thomas Gardner on the new Daunt Books Publishing edition of his collection, Poverty Creek Journal.
Interview | Charlotte Hopkins Hall: Forever Entangled in a Causal Loop
‘As an artist, I’m an observer. My role is to alert and call to attention, not write policy. My sensibility is such that I experience the world intensely and recreate it in a visual form. But to try and answer this impossible question, one of such complexity, rooted in history and human avarice, a plan of correction would take time, which we don’t have, and a concerted effort, which we don’t have.’
Charlotte Hopkins Hall on her forthcoming show at Gallery 46.
Fiction | That Time After Dinner by Jago Rackham
‘“It’s your birthday tomorrow,” said my mother. “Did you know the Jesuits say ‘Give me a child before the age of seven and he’ll be mine forever?’” “Who are the Jesuits?” “Priests.” “Oh.” She tousled my hair. “Thank god you’ve met none.”’
New fiction by Jago Rackham.
Interview | Toby Lloyd on Fervour: A Meditation on Family, Faith and Generational Trauma
‘A lot of horror films trade in Christian symbols and ideas – demons, upside down crucifixes and so on. Jewish folklore is just as stuffed with goblins and witches and ghosts – all manner of fun things to play around with. So why shouldn’t they play a part in my modern Jewish novel?’
Toby Lloyd on his debut novel, Fervour.
Poetry | Karma by Jane Zwart
‘Of justices, karma is the most poetic— / a magistrate who makes us wear / our wrongs: albatrosses, ugly charms.’
New poetry by Jane Zwart.
Essay | One Hundred Years of Nijinska
‘Both contemporary pieces seek to build on this revolutionary choreography rather than imitate it perfectly, yet both acknowledge that Nijinska’s work marked key developments in the world of choreography, bridging the gap between one century and the next in the world of classical dance. So how did it come to pass that now she is known primarily as a keeper of her brother’s career?’
Esmee Wright on Bronislava Nijinska.
Fiction | The Singing Tribe by Benjamin George Coles
‘I mean something closer to: am I a good person? Am I sincere and devout to those things in my life that I ought to be?’
New fiction by Benjamin George Coles.