‘But if she was brown-eyed or blue-eyed, / they will not recall, only that her eyes / asked a question that no one could answer.’
New poetry by Damen O’Brien.
Poetry | Punctum by Lisa Kelly
‘If all the protesters were smiling serenely, / would a scowling woman become / the punctum? Or is a scowling woman / too much of a cliché to be a punctum?’
New poetry by Lisa Kelly.
Review | The Radical Vision of Pedro Lemebel by Esmee Wright
‘I hope that, with this collection, the anglophone world will continue to expand its interest in world literature; not just the foreign, but the queer, the poor, the almost untranslatable.’
Esmee Wright reviews Pedro Lemebel’s A Last Summer of Queer Apostles.
Essay | ‘Everything Shapes What It Encounters’: On the Life and Work of John Burnside by Tom Branfoot
‘As he writes in The Music of Time, ‘to make a poem at all is an act of hope’, for a future in which somebody is present, attending to the music and the craft.’
Tom Branfoot remembers the late John Burnside.
Review | Clare Best’s Beyond the Gate
John O’Donoghue Clare Best’s Beyond the Gate . Beyond the Gate, Clare Best, (Worple Press, 2023), 88 pages, £12 .…
Poetry | Glitch by Nicholas Hogg
‘What figure / is the chance that a poet can appear / on praise.’
New poetry from Nicholas Hogg.
Interview | Rowland Bagnall’s Near-Life Experience by Jamie Cameron
‘But language often fails at being accurate (if accuracy is even the aim), so I’m also interested in the things that writing can and can’t pull off.’
Jamie Cameron talks to Rowland Bagnall about his new collection, Near-Life Experience.
Review | This Rotation of Buttocks by Magnus Rena
‘If the space you live in is beholden to a landlord, then that space is not really yours, and with every day that you spend in it a sense of alienation is cemented.’
Magnus Rena reviews ‘The Lodgers’.
Essay | Pareidolia by Tallulah Griffith
‘I guess maybe that’s called haunting, that magic pull of things akin to those in our glass boxes, things that cannot last.’
New writing by Tallulah Griffith.
Review | Literary Posters: The Birth of an American Visual Culture by Louis Harnett O’Meara
‘This was the fate of the literary poster; brief but seminal, its visual motifs, techniques and advertising innovations were quickly absorbed into new mediums.’
Louis Harnett O’Meara on The Art of the Literary Poster.
Review | Pulling a Stunt by Lucy Thynne
‘‘In this meeting of darkness and light,’ Cusk writes, ‘was a beginning.’’
Lucy Thynne reviews Parade.
Fiction | There or Not There by Claire Carroll
‘He said if he had done it, then that person would have almost certainly drowned, and he’d be a murderer.’
New fiction from Claire Carroll.
Interview | Andrea Khôra on RAPTURE by Eric Block
‘I see the role of the artist to be nuanced. While exploring big ideas is one role an artist can take, I find myself hoping to create art that lets the complexity of situations exist within the work.’
Eric Block speaks to Andrea Khôra about her new film, RAPTURE.
Review | The Partial Truth by Rowland Bagnall
‘The Vast Extent offers a thoughtful exploration of believing and its origins, considering not only how ideas are formed but how they come to be revised.’
Rowland Bagnall reviews ‘The Vast Extent’ by Lavinia Greenlaw.
Review | The Spirit of the Times by Patrick Cash
‘A very physical and evocative portrayal of the town is built, even if a more beautiful story perhaps hides in its shadows.’
Patrick Cash reviews Pity and The Night Alphabet.
Interview | Stitches, Stems and Pockets in the Sublime Work of Danielle Dutton by Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou
‘But that’s often how art works. It’s intuitive. It’s murky. You’re creeping along in the dark until you’re not.’
Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou speaks to Danielle Dutton about her latest collection, Prairie, Dresses, Art, Other.
Essay | The Secret Earth by Charlotte Stroud
‘It is for this reason that I never go to my field at this time of day but wait instead until I can be alone. Only then, in my experience, will it show me a secret.’
Charlotte Stroud on the secrets of the countryside.
Review | Anthony Oliveira’s Queer Retelling of the Bible by Esmee Wright
‘To the enigmatic prose of the Bible, Oliveira layers meaning upon those ruins, not to move the story on, but to give voice to the unspoken fear.’
Esmee Wright reviews Anthony Oliveira’s Dayspring.
Review | Ali Lewis’s Absence by Nicola Healey
‘It is a book that engages thought and ideas more than feeling; this is poetry as extreme metaphysical sport.’
Nicola Healey reviews Ali Lewis’s Absence.
Review | Capote and the Treachery of the Decade by Hallam Bullock
‘As with all tortured artists, we are often more comfortable recoiling at their wounds than considering them.’
Hallam Bullock on Answered Prayers and Capote’s Women.
Interview | Between Fiction and Reality with Amélie Cordonnier by Erik Martiny
‘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.
Review | The Brightness of a Single Instance by Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou
‘Kneeling in peace or protest, Ono asks us to pick up the scissors, the pen or the match so as to creatively strike out, seek peace and light up the dark.’
Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou reviews Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind.