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 […]”
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS JUANITA REA
Juanita Rea is a South African artist and activist living in Belfast. She works within a range of creative arts to address gender-based violence and other injustices, alongside facilitating well-being and community arts programmes. HCE caught up with Juanita after her Fire & Dust poetry gig in February, to ask a few questions…
Review: Theatre at Shoot Festival 2022
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | The ‘Performance’ strand of Coventry’s Shoot Festival 2022 concluded at the city’s Belgrade Theatre on Thursday and Friday last week with two very different new plays from woman playwrights: ‘Protests, hymns and caskets’ by lanaire aderemi and ‘Gamble’ by Hannah Walker and Rosa Postlethwaite…
May 2022 Round-up: Virtual Literary Events
May has arrived! 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, and even participate in events overseas…
REVIEW: RAYMOND ANTROBUS’ ‘ALL THE NAMES GIVEN’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | “But within Raymond Antrobus’s 2021 collection ‘All The Names Given’, the poet’s description of the antipathy between his dreadlocked Jamaican father and his white British maternal grandmother, the possibility of a revelatory third meaning opens up. […]”
Saboteur Awards: Shortlisted!
A huge thank you to everyone who voted in the Saboteur Awards for Coventry’s Fire&Dust as Best Regular Spoken Word Night and Stella Backhouse as Best Reviewer – we’ve been shortlisted! So we just need your votes once more, for a chance to win…