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…
REVIEW: DEAN BROWNE’S ‘KITCHENS AT NIGHT’
By Stella Backhouse | Dean Browne’s 2022 pamphlet ‘Kitchens at Night’ […] asks not only how it feels to be in possession of something that is difficult to access but is still an intrinsic part of the psyche, but also how you conceptualise your relationship with such an entity and your relationship with artistic representations of it that have been tried already. […]
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS EMMA PURSHOUSE
Emma Purshouse is a poetry slam champion, performing regularly at spoken word nights and festivals far and wide, and was recently the first-ever Poet Laureate for the City of Wolverhampton. On 1st June, Emma was our Fire&Dust headliner at Café Morso, where her lively poetry set was well-received by the crowd. We caught up with her after the gig, to ask a few questions…
REVIEW: DAVID MORLEY’S ‘FURY’
By Stella Backhouse | ‘Fury’, David Morley’s 2020 collection, is a place where language is put to the test – specifically, the test of how important to the achievement of meaning is precise understanding. One way Morley explores this is through liberal use of Romani (the Romany language) throughout the book; but in an interview given at the time […]