REVIEW: PEN KEASE’S ‘THIS SIDE OF THE SEA’
By Stella Backhouse | “Clearly, fate has not dealt Kease an easy hand. As well as early widowhood, she has also had to face a cancer diagnosis and care of a mother who is living with dementia, all of which are covered in her collection. Inevitably, questions arise about whether we can escape fate and whether we collude in the creation of our own and others’ fate. […]”
REVIEW: ALISON BINNEY’S ‘OTHER WOMEN’S KITCHENS’
By Stella Backhouse | Alison Binney’s 2021 Myslexia Award-winning pamphlet ‘Other Women’s Kitchens’ is a refreshingly relatable description of one woman’s journey from awkward teenage awareness of her ‘difference’ to maturity and a relationship so right, it feels like she and her partner are carved from the same tree. Because the specific impetus for ‘Other Women’s Kitchens’ is lesbian identity, it would make the […]
INTERVIEW: FIRE&DUST MEETS SUJANA CRAWFORD
Sujana Crawford is a multilingual poet, playwright and researcher, currently based in Yorkshire. Her work has been platformed by the BBC and Birmingham Rep, among others, and will be featuring next year at Box of Tricks in Manchester. HCE caught up with Sujana after she headlined for Fire&Dust, to ask a few questions…
REVIEW: MARTIN FIGURA’S ‘THE REMAINING MEN’
By Stella Backhouse | ‘The Remaining Men’ covers a number of different themes, including Figura’s fractured childhood, his army comrades, his life in notable politicians and poems written as poet-in-residence in the post-industrial Durham coalfield and at NHS Salisbury during Covid. What brings them together is Figura’s archaeological approach to the lives of his subjects, delicately stripping back layers of […]
REVIEW: VICTORIA KENNEFICK’S ‘EGG/SHELL’
By Stella Backhouse | “Enduring biological reality? Or only an idea, held together by fragile fragments of social norms?” Literary critic Stella dips into 2024 Carcanet Press collection ‘Egg/Shell’ by award-winning poet Victoria Kennefick…
GODS AND MONSTERS: THE WITCH
Here’s a Halloween special for you – a ‘Gods and Monsters’ blog post all about witches! Eve explores historical facts and folklore surrounding witchcraft, including common tropes, protection methods, literary depictions, and how that all now translates into modern media…
Cork-Coventry Poetry Exchange 2024: Part Two
It’s that time again! The sixteenth annual Cork-Coventry poetry exchange. Two rising stars of the poetry and spoken word scene in Cork (Ireland) – Catherine Ronan and Cédric Bikond Nkoma – have been selected to represent their city for 2024, and will be travelling to Coventry (UK) this month…
Review: Ricky Ray’s ‘The Soul We Share’
Guest reviewer: Meg Freer | ‘The Soul We Share’, a new collection by American poet, essayist, and self-described mystic Ricky Ray, takes as its impetus his shared life with his beloved dog Addie, who taught him patience, tolerance, and close observation of the environment, but it is […]
REVIEW: ‘THE BOOK OF COVENTRY’
Reviewer Stella Backhouse gives her take on brand new Comma Press anthology, ‘The Book of Coventry’. This collection of eleven short stories explores a diverse range of themes and topics, all set in the same West Midlands city. Have you read it yet? Do you agree with Stella that it “succeeds in getting under Coventry’s skin”…?
COVENTRY NEWS: RETURN OF THE TOLKIEN GROUP
By Dominic Russell | The Rangers of Mordor Minor, Coventry’s local Tolkien group, is being revived after a long hiatus following the pandemic lockdowns. Read Dominic’s article to find out what a Smial involves, what happened at the most recent meeting, and details for when and where the next meeting will be.