REVIEW: JOE CARRICK-VARTY’S ‘MORE SKY’

REVIEW: JOE CARRICK-VARTY’S ‘MORE SKY’

REVIEW: JOE CARRICK-VARTY’S ‘MORE SKY’   By Stella Backhouse   If I had to condense Joe Carrick-Varty’s complex new collection More Sky into just a handful of lines, I’d choose a short section from ‘THE CHILDREN’. In the aftermath of his father’s decision to...
REVIEW: SIMON FLETCHER’S ‘WILD ORCHIDS’

REVIEW: SIMON FLETCHER’S ‘WILD ORCHIDS’

REVIEW: SIMON FLETCHER’S ‘WILD ORCHIDS’       By Stella Backhouse     In poetry terms, the Shropshire town of Oswestry has only one claim to fame – but it is an impressive one: Wilfred Owen, regarded by many as the pre-eminent poet of World War One, was born there in...
WRITING ADVICE: STRONG OPENING HOOK

WRITING ADVICE: STRONG OPENING HOOK

Writing Advice: The Need for Strong Openings Fiction and Screenplay Emma Evans   The genres of fictional prose and screenplay are two of the same – they’re both vehicles in storytelling – and yet they are different. Screenplay is a ‘blueprint’ for the fiction...
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS SCOTT COE

INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS SCOTT COE

INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS SCOTT COE     Scott Coe is a performance poet, an artist and the current Stamford Poet Laureate. He started off not as a poet but a lyricist, citing the likes of Noel Gallagher, Lennon & McCartney, Bob Dylan, Guy...