Freshwater follows the life of Ada, narrated by the gods who inhabited her at birth. What could be seen as a cluster of psychiatric disorders is depicted instead as a spiritual struggle of finding one’s way in the world, all happening in Ada’s head, in the marble room where all her selves are contained. Akwaeke Read More
Swan Song is a historical work of fiction, and the first novel by Texan Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott. It re-tells the fantastic life of Truman Capote, author of Breakfast At Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood. With a playful interception on the rigidity of biography, it is written in a thrilling collective voice, an ‘our’ which weaves collective memory Read More
‘You don’t know if you like animals but you’re desperate to have one, you want a creature.’ So starts this captivating and strange novel by Rosenthal in this new translation by award-winning translator Sophie Lewis of the 2010 original. Is To Leave with the Reindeer a novel, though? The book’s writing is a hybrid of Read More
If I were a painter I should paint these first impressions in pale yellow, silver, and green. (Virginia Woolf) [1] Blue I can paint my earliest memory in blue – my memory of the jam jar I dropped at my parents’ feet after being so certain I Read More
Art imitates life, they say, and it’s impossible to read John Lanchester’s latest novel, The Wall, without making comparisons to current political situations. Such a trifecta for a dystopian novel – a wall, migrants, climate change – seems almost too predictable, and Lanchester uses it with mixed success. The novel shows a future where ‘The Read More
Have you ever made a decision, and then in the middle of the night sat up in a hot sweat as you realise you might have made a terrible mistake, and it’s too late to take it back? Let me explain my moment of madness. Moira Forsyth is an author of five novels and currently Read More
It is a bright day in Glasgow on the day I go to interview Bernard MacLaverty. I mount the steps to his home in the West End of the city; one of the storm doors is open which feels akin to a welcome and several umbrellas are propped in the corner at the front door. Read More
Know my name A name is a fickle thing. For me, it’s a way for people to get my attention; for others, it is me. For my part, I don’t think of myself as ‘Craig’. I answer to it, but I don’t like it. I’ve heard it remarked that it is a ‘good Scottish Read More
Building A House I have always been taken with the word ‘stanza.’ It has to do with its architectural etymology. It comes from the Italian word for ‘room’ and upon learning this, I thought: of course. Aren’t all great works of poetry just like houses? Or hotels? Buildings? Be it drawn from the Read More
‘Ideas are to objects as constellations are to the stars’ is a quote from Walter Benjamin’s Trauerspiel explored by duo-team, McLoughlin and Williamson, in their mesmeric multi-media installation exploring space – words which could just as easily be interpolated for all of the Fine Artworks on display on the sixth floor. Sophie Hymers’ postcard landscapes Read More