Paul Kingsnorth has had an admirable and varied career. He has been a peace observer in Mexico, worked in an orangutan rehabilitation centre in Borneo, been the deputy editor of The Geologist, and has been a journalist at The Independent. Whilst holding these positions, he has also published two non-fiction books and seen his poetry Read More
Stuart Kelly is a literary journalist and critic with a formidable reputation for his innovative thought on literary and cultural matters, not only in Scotland, but throughout Britain. He has judged the Man-Booker Prize, the Granta Best Young Novelists of the Year and is one of the judges for the 2014 Dundee Book Prize. He Read More
The Circle is Dave Eggers’ fifth novel, and charts the story of Mae Holland, an able but unexceptional college graduate, plucked from small town existence by Annie, her (ruthless and exceptional) former roommate. Annie holds a highflying post with ‘The Circle’, a Palo Alto search and social media company well on its way to global Read More
With four well received novels under his belt, and praise from the likes of Ian Rankin and Irvine Welsh, physicist turned-author Doug Johnstone returns with his latest offering Gone Again. A psychological thriller in two distinct halves, the reader is immediately engaged by his/her proximity to the protagonist’s emotions, and drawn further in by a Read More
Rebecca Goss’ second collection, Her Birth, carefully considers the process of grieving the loss of a child. In isolation, each poem can be read as an individual portrait of a sincere maternal sentiment; however, considered as a whole, the collection presents a chronological account of the trauma and subsequent acceptance by a mother who has Read More
Russell Jones has worked hard in recent years to bring the sub-genre of Science-Fiction poetry into the mainstream, culminating in his editing of the 2012 anthology Where Rockets Burn Through, published by Penned in The Margins. This ground-breaking anthology harnessed a diverse range of poets and poetic themes, unified by a fascination with the science Read More
The Purgatory Press/After The End is a book of two parts, which skillfully contributes to the tradition of narrative innovation in the contemporary short story. The first section, “The Purgatory Press”, is a novella made up of fictional entries in the catalogue of a now-defunct publishing house, Purgatory Press. The second half of the work,” Read More
Amidst the dark wood-panelled spaces of the Tower Foyer mezzanine, and amongst the movement of people busily rushing to somewhere else, there is a little dream-like oasis of calm if you care to stop. From here to here is a small retrospective of Saul Roberston’s work, spanning the highly detailed realism of his direct observational Read More
Exploring memory and solitude in a deeply affecting narrative, Miral al-Tahawy delights and engrosses in her latest novel, Brooklyn Heights. Through an examination of the inner world of Hend, a newly-arrived immigrant in New York City, and also the lives and minds of the people she meets as she attempts to adjust to her new Read More
For many, the term “Nordic Noir” has come to describe their Saturday evening television viewing and, indeed, the success of shows such as The Killing, The Bridge, and Wallander, has brought the genre firmly into the public consciousness. However, long before BBC 4 got in on the act, Nordic Noir was being defined and developed Read More