Poetry in translation is not particularly well represented in the UK, but the Arc series of parallel text translations is certainly doing great work to alter this state of affairs. Beautifully produced, interesting publications that profile either single authors or a variety of poets in an anthology, Arc’s series of poetry in translation makes work Read More
On a book tour of his novel about art and war, Anil’s Ghost, Michael Ondaatje tells a tale of moral responsibility, an Indian fable of a King who wakes up to find a corpse tied around his neck. Every time the King buries it, and the corpse returns; try as he might to dispose of Read More
Gerrie Fellows is no stranger to poetry, having written four other poetry collections in the past decade. However, having taken a break after Window for a Small Blue Child in 2007, she returns with The Body in Space. Fellows’ new collection explores the poet’s interest in the exploration of human insignificance by its use of Read More
The front cover of James Byrne’s collection, entitled Blood/Sugar, is intriguing and inviting; its rear cover houses two highly supportive testimonials, one by Australian poet John Kinsella, and the other by renowned English poet, Penelope Shuttle, which attest to the perceived riches within. The first impression that Byrne’s work evokes is one of admiration for Read More
Anglo-Breton poet Claire Trévien’s collection The Shipwrecked House is a bewildering yet heart-wrenching composition of myth, life and loss. In returning to the sea as a central theme, the poet creates a seamless transition from her pamphlet Low-Tide Lottery to this, her newest work. At first, these seemingly disjointed poems appear to follow no coherent Read More
Overall, Tom Kelly’s collection titled I Know Their Footsteps is a difficult read – not because the poet uses highly allusive imagery or inflated language but because the poetry is intrinsically emotionally trying. In this seventh collection of Kelly’s (and the sixth of which to be published by Red Squirrel Press), there are poems concerned Read More
Nearly two hundred guests gathered for the grand opening of the annual Generator Members show last weekend. Each year this show grows bigger demonstrating what a vital part of Dundee’s art scene Generator is, attracting staff and student members from DJCAD, local colleges and also many established artists. This year 96 members chose to submit Read More
Seeing the soft cover of Locust and Marlin, it was difficult not to grab the thin book from the proffered selection. There’s something magical about the marlin disappearing in the waves while the heron stands quietly on the back in an image which stretches across both covers. Certainly, it’s a scene familiar to me, my Read More
Sylvia Plath: Drawings gives an insight into a world of the famed poet perhaps not known to many as a visual artist. Having suffered from depression for most her life,and having eventually committed suicide aged only 30, she is known best for her confessional poetry, her dark, harsh and even macabre themes. For anyone who Read More
Sandeep Parmar is one of the most exciting emerging voices in British poetry. As a scholar, she is known primarily for her work on the modernist poet Hope Mirrlees; as a poet forging her own voice, she is known for the 2012 collection The Stone Orchard, and now (and, one hopes, pre-eminently) she is to Read More