Francesca Kritikos Remembering Joan: Why Her Writing is Poetry Poet Francesca Kritikos looks back at Joan Didion’s life and legacy, considering what makes her singular voice and style at once shocking and lyrical. ‘I’m not living here, I’m just staying here.’ —Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays When remembering Joan, I don’t think predominantly […]
Peter Robinson Venetian Variations ‘Ah you publishing scoundrel!’ — Henry James 1 It’s always a lift for the spirits to be back in Italy. Appropriately enough, given the shared interest in collecting authors’ papers, our excursion’s final stop was to be Venice. The visit had been planned as a treat following the ardours of patience […]
The Saint of Painting by Celia Bailey Georges Braque – The Poetry of Things Bernard Jacobson Gallery 4th November – 22nd January Exhibition review by Celia Bailey London hasn’t seen the like of Georges Braque; The Poetry of Things for a quarter of a century and the last major presentation of the work of one […]
Karen Whiteson A Jest of Nature I was lolling in a pile of dead leaves when I heard the cries of woodcutters spread out around me. They were calling out ‘Ho’ to each other, to link their widening circle. As they closed in, their cries softened into a chant. I withdrew into a blackberry bush […]
Erik Martiny An Interview with Camille Emmanuelle Camille Emmanuelle is a journalist, author and editor. Her book Sexpowerment was published to widespread acclaim in 2016. She has also written Le Goût du baiser (The Taste of the Kiss), a teen fiction novel on the subject of adolescent sexual encounters and most recently Ricochets, a book […]
We are delighted to present a new, previously unpublished short story from Morgan Omotoye, author of the recently published novelette Here is Where (Open Pen, 2021). Go here to order a copy of Here is Where directly from the publisher. Morgan Omotoye What Remained Conrad’s laptop had given up the ghost. Dark wavy lines swam […]
David Hayden The Ashtray A balloon in the shape of a black axe drifted through the air past the Union Chapel clock. On the upper deck I was alone in following its eastward progress. As the bus approached the Green, I fully expected to see the axe embed itself, with a cartoon shudder, in the […]
These poems are an extract from a collection that follows a conversation held between three muses/lovers of Picasso: Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar and Françoise Gilot. The speakers are indicated by the initials before each poem. Emily Cooper & Jo Burns The Conversation D.M Life Without Françoise, You were young when we first met Though already […]
Charles Olsen Poetry and Film in Colombia A New Zealander drawn to Colombian poetry films? Having interviewed filmmakers of Spain and Portugal for the book The Poetics of Poetry Film (Sarah Tremlett (Ed), Intellect Books, 2021), I recently became interested in what was happening in the country of my partner, the poet Lilián Pallares from […]
J. J. Junieles (trans. Ellen Jones) Pleased to Meet You, Pablo Escobar I still remember that day, walking along Calle Séptima with Mariela. We heard a commotion in the street, followed a group of people into a café with a television, and discovered the reason for all the noise: a news anchor was explaining that […]
Zac Goldsmith Colombia: a Nature Superpower A few weeks before the all-important climate COP in Glasgow, I found myself travelling to Colombia to meet the country’s President Duque and find ways in which we could enlist his support to boost ambition on nature and forests. .……..Nature has always been neglected in global climate politics, relegated […]
