REVIEW: VIV FOGEL’S ‘IMPERFECT BEGINNINGS’
Reviewed by Stella Backhouse | “Inherited trauma is a major theme of Fogel’s new collection Imperfect Beginnings, and with a story like hers, there’s a lot of trauma to inherit. If there’s a single defining image here, that image is the heartbreak of […] “
REVIEW: ROSIE GARLAND’S ‘WHAT GIRLS DO IN THE DARK’
By Stella Backhouse | “The poetry of Rosie Garland’s 2020 collection ‘What Girls do in the Dark’ finds fellowship in the weird, counter-intuitive behaviour of space phenomena, converting it into metaphor for her own sense of not conforming to society’s norms. […]”
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS VRON MCINTYRE
Vron McIntyre is a queer, non-binary (they/she), disabled poet originally from the north-east of England and now a long-time resident of Nottingham. Their debut pamphlet ‘Random Trail’ was published by Big White Shed in 2021. We caught up with Vron after headlining our Fire&Dust gig, to ask a few questions…
REVIEW: JOHN MCCULLOUGH’S ‘PANIC RESPONSE’
By Stella Backhouse | “John McCullough’s 2022 collection Panic Response is a delicate and moving evocation of grief, mental breakdown and eventual re-emergence. Although primarily a frank and deeply personal memoir, recent lockdown events and the ever-present […]”
REVIEW: ELIZABETH MCGEOWN’S ‘COCKROACH’
By Stella Backhouse | “…this is a book about turning negatives into positives. It’s about embracing outsiderhood. If McGeown ever wanted to re-name it, ‘Turn and Face the Strange’ might well make the shortlist.”
INTERVIEW: FIRE&DUST MEETS JOE COOK
Joe Cook is a musician, lyricist, music producer and spoken word artist from Birmingham (UK). Joe was our first headliner of 2023 at our Fire & Dust poetry night on 5th January. His entertaining set was well-received by the audience and we caught up with him after the event, to ask a few questions…
REVIEW: JULIAN BISHOP’S ‘WE SAW IT ALL HAPPEN’
By Stella Backhouse | “Say out loud the title of Julian Bishop’s new collection ‘We Saw It All Happen’ and a ghostly question hangs in the after-silence. We saw it all happen….but what did we do? A former BBC environmental reporter, Bishop says in his introduction that his aim is […]”
REVIEW: LEWIS BUXTON’S ‘BOY IN VARIOUS POSES’
By Stella Backhouse | ” It’s as if Buxton is taking the reader beyond high walls made of bricks marked ‘boy’ to show them the private gardens they enclose. In fact, many of these poems (both left- and right-hand) read as if they began life in the privacy of a bedroom where, alone or with a sexual partner […]”
REVIEW: SUZANNAH V EVANS’ ‘BRIGHTWORK’
By Stella Backhouse | “Brightwork presents shiningly accessible poems that are deeply evocative of the unique physical and sensory landscape of Bristol’s Underfall boatyard. Following the example of Ponge, Evans portrays the boatyard mostly through forensic focus on artefacts found within it. […]”
REVIEW: CATHY GALVIN’S ‘WALKING THE COVENTRY RING ROAD’
By Stella Backhouse | […] like minimalism itself, ‘Walking the Coventry Ring Road’ is more than the sum of its parts. Part memoir, part love-song to the unique landscape, carried around by each of us, that is the one imprinted from childhood, it’s about how our relationship with […]