July 2022 Round-up: Virtual Literary Events
July has landed! The HCE magazine team have created another list of online literary open mics, events and workshops 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…
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS RICK DOVE
Rick Dove is a queer, mixed-race, and neurodivergent poet and storyteller from London. This month, Rick headlined at our virtual Fire & Dust poetry night and we caught up with him after the event to ask a few questions…
REVIEW: ANTONY OWEN’S ‘THE BATTLE’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | Disarmingly honest, The Battle bravely tackles these taboos of male experience, confessional-style; but the fact that this very honesty is what makes the collection stand out, is in itself a commentary on men’s inability to talk about their relationship with masculinity. […]
REVIEW: ZOE BROOKS’ ‘FOOLS’ PARADISE’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | Zoe Brooks’ poem for voices ‘Fool’s Paradise’, inspired by a stay in Prague in 1990, first published in 1992 and now re-issued by Black Eyes Publishing, sets out to capture […]
June 2022 Round-up: Virtual Literary Events
Good news: creative communities across the UK, and all around the globe, are STILL putting on some amazing virtual events! HCE has created another list of online literary open mics, events and workshops, 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…
REVIEW: SUNDRA LAWRENCE’S ‘WARRIORS’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | Sundra Lawrence packs a lot into her Aryamati Poetry Prize 2021-winning pamphlet ‘Warriors’, newly published by Fly on the Wall Press. […] And while its immediate background is the Sri Lankan Civil War of 1983-2009, beyond that it is also informed by the dual legacies of colonialism and conflict, and the experience of diaspora and cultural […]
INTERVIEW: FIRE&DUST MEETS MEL BRADLEY
Mel Bradley is a spoken word artist, writer, playwright/theatre-maker, multimedia artist and actor. Her latest show ‘For the Love of Mary’ maps a personal fascination with the Virgin Mary and her lost humanity, rediscovered in those stories shared by women living in Ireland. On 12th May 2022, Mel was the guest headliner at our virtual Fire & Dust poetry night. HCE caught up with her after the event, to ask a few questions…
REVIEW: TOM SASTRY’S ‘YOU HAVE NO NORMAL COUNTRY TO RETURN TO’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | You have no normal country to return to also asks emotional questions. Although contextualised by British colonial history, its primary focus is the tumultuous period roughly spanning the London Tube bombings of 2005 to the present day. It includes a handful of lockdown poems in a brief ‘Interlude’ between […]
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS CATHI RAE
Cathi Rae is an award-winning and widely published poet, a multiple slam champion, a body positivity model and a campaigner against ageism in fashion, described by Joelle Taylor as “a spoken word icon”. We caught up with Cathi after she was the guest headliner at our Fire&Dust poetry night, to ask a few questions…
REVIEW: SAM J GRUDGING’S ‘THE BIBLE II’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | “Sam J Grudgings’ 2021 collection ‘The Bible II’ […] is a stunningly honest examination of the realities of alcoholism and the long shadows they cast even after the drinking stops. Raised in the church, Grudgings’ draws on an intimate knowledge of Christianity to portray his ten-year relationship with alcohol […]”