Cork-Coventry Twin Cities Poetry Exchange 2023 (Part Two)
It’s that time again! Next week, for the second leg of the 2023 Coventry-Cork poetry exchange exchange, two talented poets – Rosalin Blue and Cathal Holden – will visit Coventry (UK) as representatives of Cork (Ireland). Read on for event details…
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS JULIAN MATTHEWS
Julian Matthews is a former journalist and media trainer from Malaysia of mixed-race minority, finding new ways to express himself through poetry, fiction, memoir and essays. Julian has also been a guest headliner at our virtual Fire&Dust poetry night. We caught up with him after the gig, to ask a few questions…
Gods and Monsters: Fairies
By Eve Volungeviciute | Another instalment of the mythological creature deep dive series has arrived! This time we are stepping into the land of fairies and there is quite a lot of talk about, so join Eve for a tour of the origins, subtypes and changing portrayals of these intriguing entities…
REVIEW: COLIN BANCROFT’S ‘KNIFE EDGE’
By Stella Backhouse | If the title of Colin Bancroft’s 2022 pamphlet Knife Edge brings to mind a straight line and nothing else, then you’re getting only half the picture. In fact, Knife Edge is already a clever play on words, combining a reference to the unprovoked stabbing that almost ended Bancroft’s life with a metaphor for his shattered mental state in the period following. But as well as that, Knife Edge is also […]
Cork-Coventry Poetry Exchange 2023: Part One
It’s that time again! The annual Cork-Coventry poetry exchange is now in its fifteenth year. Find out which two rising stars of Coventry’s local poetry and spoken word scene have been selected to travel overseas to Cork (Ireland) and represent their city in 2023 […]
REVIEW: HOLLY MAGILL’S ‘20’
By Stella Backhouse | Holly Magill’s 2023 pamphlet is about transitions and different timescales – chronological, mental – that run parallel to each other but not always in sync. ‘20’ refers to Magill’s age in the late 1990s, when most of the poems are set. It’s the story of […]
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS LKN
Filipino page-performance-slam-street poet LKN was a featured guest poet at our virtual Fire&Dust poetry night. He has performed at 4,000+ events in twenty-seven countries, was first runner-up in the 2019 Singapore Poetry Slam, and a finalist at the Toronto Poetry Slam in 2020. HCE got back in touch after the gig, to ask a few questions…
REVIEW: PÁDRAIG Ó TUAMA’S ‘FEED THE BEAST’
REVIEW: PÁDRAIG Ó TUAMA’S ‘FEED THE BEAST’ By Stella Backhouse In a 2020 interview for Belfast-based film-making charity esc films, Irish Poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama spoke about the experience of being a gay man in the Catholic church: “I...
G&M Fiction: ‘Probability Neglect’ by Mark Reece
HCE received a lot of high-quality submissions for ‘The Gods & Monsters Issue’ – sadly, too many to fit in the print magazine! So, we offered some shortlisted writers and artists the chance to be published here on the website. This is a short story we loved, by Mark Reece…
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS BRENDA READ-BROWN
Brenda Read-Brown was Gloucestershire Poet Laureate from 2012-2019. She has won many poetry slams and performed her work on BBC Radio 4, as well as in Texas, Denmark, the House of Lords, various festivals, and various other events and venues. On 6th July, Brenda was our Fire&Dust headliner at Café Morso. We caught up with her after the gig, to ask a few questions…