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…
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…