Press Release: ‘Black Snowflakes Smothering a Torch’
At its foundation, ‘Black Snowflakes’ presupposes that many issues veterans face when reintegrating come not from the veteran’s traumas but from the hypocrisies inherent to American civilian culture itself. The book will be published in November 2022 with Woodhall Press […]
Emma and Eve Talk About Books…
By Emma Evans and Eve Volungeviciute | A discussion about thriller and crime novels between two HCE sub-editors. Emma and Eve compare and contrast a selection of books they’ve both read, and offer each other recommendations for new reading experiences…
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS TOM SASTRY
Bristol-based poet Tom Sastry was chosen by Carol Ann Duffy as one of the 2016 Laureate’s Choice poets. His 2022 collection, published with Nine Arches Press, is ‘You have no normal country to return to’. Tom was our August headliner for Fire & Dust at Cafe Morso and we caught up with him after the gig, to ask a few questions…
REVIEW: VRON MCINTYRE’S ‘RANDOM TRAIL’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | Vron McIntyre’s 2021 collection Random Trail is a tale of shifting perspectives. In ‘Patterns’, the opening poem, McIntyre wonderingly describes their childhood self, obsessed with how things work, as being “so sure it was patterns,/patterns through and through”. But despite their declaration that […]
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS SPOZ
Spoz (AKA Giovanni Esposito) is an award-winning performance poet, singer/songwriter, film-maker and playwright. Spoz also was the headliner at our Fire & Dust poetry event on 7th July 2022, and HCE caught up with him after the gig, to ask a few questions…
August 2022 Round-up: Virtual Literary Events
For August, the HCE magazine team have created another list of ONLINE literary open mic gigs, workshops and other events, to help you plan for the weeks ahead. Don’t miss out on taking part – seize this opportunity to “travel” far and wide, maybe even overseas…
CORK-COVENTRY TWIN CITIES POETRY EXCHANGE (2022)
The annual Coventry-Cork poetry exchange is now in its fourteenth year. Two rising stars of Coventry's local poetry/spoken word scene, Sujana Crawford and John Bernard, have been selected to represent the city this year, which involves travelling to Cork...
REVIEW: VICTORIA KENNEFICK’S ‘EAT OR WE BOTH STARVE’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | These are poems that cover many themes including Irish history, grief, and growing up in a family that exists only because your father’s first wife passed away. But at its heart, Kennefick’s concern is with the relationship between consumption, control, the Catholic church (Kennefick writes from the cultural perspective of Irish Catholicism) and the impacts of internalising the ‘ideal’ female body. […}
REVIEW: JULIA WEBB’S ‘THE TELLING’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | “I felt an instinctive affinity with Julia Webb’s recent collection The Telling, and its themes of trauma darkly visited on succeeding generations and the decoding of memory for clues to the roots of lifelong unease. Even more than Threat, Webb’s earlier collection, The Telling is claustrophobically focused on her dysfunctional family. Her parents are something of a mystery to her. […]”
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS AMY RUGG
Amy Rugg is a talented writer, poet, collector of stories and teller of tall tales. Poetry, both her own and by others, is “the fresh air that keeps (her) going”. Amy was our Fire & Dust headliner at Café Morso on 2nd June 2022. Her set delighted the crowd, and we caught up with her after the gig, to ask a few questions…