-In conversation with Claire Trévien- Ira Lightman makes public art around the UK, regularly appears on BBC Radio 3′s The Verbs, writes and performs, and spent a lot of 2013 tracking poetry plagiarism. Claire Trévien: It’s been a busy year for you – it began with the Christian Ward scandal - you quickly became known as the ’poetry sleuth’…
-Compiled by Claire Trévien- Tis the seasons for lists and we don’t like feeling left out. So, as is our custom, here is our top ten most viewed reviews of (published) poetry this year, rendered more difficult by us updating our website this year and having two sets of data to look at. 1. Kim…
-Reviewed by Richard T. Watson- Perhaps the first question raised by the Dalkey Archives Press‘ newest collection, Best European Fiction 2014, is: what is European fiction? What are the characteristics that define it against, say, American fiction? In such a varied continent, ranging from Portugal to Russia, Iceland to Greece, and a continent with so…
-Reviewed by Eleanor Hemsley- Looking for the Witches is an extraordinary collection of interlocking short stories that explores both the way witches were caught and tried and also the way witches lived. The stories of different characters’ lives intertwine cleverly with each other to create a well-rounded and interesting read. I found whilst reading that…
-Reviewed by Alex Campbell- Emma Press’ new collection – the Anthology of Mildly Erotic Verse makes me long for the days when collections of poetry were known as “treasuries”, because there are some genuine treasures to be found within this slim volume. In her mission-statement of an introduction, Emma Wright states that she wanted the…
-Reviewed by Seán Hewitt- The humble apple has a lot to answer for: the fall of Man, the subsequent subjection of Woman, the discovery of gravity… It has been subsumed into the everyday workings of our language: ‘the apple of my eye’, ‘apples and oranges’, ‘the Big Apple’. Nine Arches Press’s new anthology, edited…
-Reviewed by Billy Mills- ‘Anything you can write is already somehow immanent in the language, a baffling fact that has various ways of affecting those who discern it.’ This is the first sentence of Hugh Kenner’s Foreword to the 1981 edition of Prepositions, Louis Zukofsky’s collected critical essays. Baffling as it may be, this is…
- reviewed by Lettie McKie – (image courtesy of Stuart Leech) A hot-bed of thrilling spoken word … The Roundhouse is without a doubt one of the best performing arts venues in London. Not only does it have a diverse creative programme that includes some very exciting work with young people, it is also a…
-Reviewed by Afric McGlinchey- This unusual and beautiful book is the product of a collaboration between the poet, Chris McCabe, and Maria Vlotides, artist and medicinal herbalist. Initially conceived of as an art installation, the project has evolved into a book containing images of Vlotides’ notes on the herbs, as well as images, and…
– reviewed by Lettie McKie – 16th and 17th October, the Southbank Centre ‘A big warm hug of a show …’ Simon Mole’s latest project, in association with the Southbank Centre and Apples and Snakes is a veritable smorgasbord of poetical delights. Warmly welcoming us to the cosy surroundings of the Festival Village, Simon and…
-Reviewed by Angela Topping- Twelved Slanted Poems for Christmas is the very first publication by the popular webzine, Ink Sweat and Tears, who annually run a feature called The Twelve Days of Christmas, which include poems about the festive season which are a little bit darker than usual. Editor Helen Ivory’s own poems are often…
-Reviewed by Charles Whalley- “I’m a poet and I feel that the internet — comprised completely of text-based alphanumeric language — is the greatest poem ever written” - Kenneth Goldsmith “Who do you think is offering something new to poetry at the moment? Internet.” - Sam Riviere * Hi Guys! Keryn and I went swimming! The deepest…
-Reviewed by Billy Mills- Snowclone Detritus: Petrarch Sonnets 97 – 116, is the second instalment in an on-going Petrarch project from Norfolk-based poet, painter and publisher Peter Hughes. The first part, Quite Frankly: After Petrarch, Canzoniere 1-28, was published by Like This Press earlier this year and poems 1 – 21 from that set can…
-Reviewed by Rebecca Burns- Hannah Stevens’ Without Makeup and Other Stories is a slim pamphlet comprising six short stories. The stories themselves only take up sixteen pages; barely enough, you might think, for a reader to get to know the author and enter the heart of their fiction. Except, not in Stevens’ case; these very…
-Reviewed by Angela Topping- This small hand-stitched rectangular pamphlet is a delightful blending of design and poetry, which work together perfectly. I was not surprised to learn from Hymas’ blog that these poems were begun under the tutorship of David Morley and Deryn Rees-Jones, two poets I admire greatly. Not because Hymas writes like they do,…
