The Touch of Time, Stewart Conn’s recently published collection, serves as a retrospective of a lifetime spent writing, concluding with a section of new poems. Ayrshire-born Conn is one of Scotland’s quiet poets who has created a steady body of work over the last 40 years, making him one of the most established and appreciated Read More
Meeting Buddha in Dumbarton is an enchanting new work from writer and artist Nikki Magennis. At once deeply personal and thematically universal, its lovely (author-designed) cover encases a varied collection of poems which deal with some grand concepts while still managing to remain grounded and sharply focused on people. Feminism and history are core topics, Read More
“What do you do with a BA in English?…” Princeton (charmingly puppeteered by Chris Tomlinson) is a bright-eyed and optimistic college graduate, pondering what to do with himself after the company for whom he has just moved to New York City suddenly “downsizes”. Unemployment turns out to be only one of a multitude of problems Read More
“Can one live a life without deception?” A screen of smoke swirling across a sparse set subtly signals the leitmotif of this little known and rarely performed Russian play by Gogol. Indeed, it was unavailable to Western audiences or readers until the late 1990s. A delightfully imaginative pre-action set, which appears to be a darkened Read More
“It’s almost shocking how little films have dealt with architecture”, reflected Wim Wenders when asked about his new collaborative project, Cathedrals of Culture in a recent article of The Independent: “overall, movies used architecture and buildings as backdrops, but failed to enter ‘their souls’, as we are now trying to do”. This is due, one Read More
One might not expect the director of Channel 4’s Big Brother zombie-drama Dead Set, or the drug–dealing crime series Top Boy, to make his debut feature film with a stark look at the subterfuge and brutality of the Irish Troubles. However, in ’71 Yann Demange proves successful in creating a surprisingly apolitical film, focusing Read More
What exactly is a fairy-tale? Does it have to take place in a different world, or can it relate to the place from which you come? With Gone are the Leaves readers are able to envision an innocently romantic fairy-tale set in the lush landscape of Scotland and France. The simple plot of boy and Read More
Sir Kenneth Calman possesses a wealth of academic degrees, and has occupied several high-ranking positions in medical councils. Included amongst an enviable list of healthcare publications is 2001’s British Medical Journal article “Storytelling, humour and learning in medicine”, and it is with this overlying theme that he has produced A Doctor’s Line. Calman’s prognosis for Read More
“I think about this a lot – the way people who are missing can fill your life. They stand at your window and watch you through the glass, whether you know it or not.” Snake Road, recently short-listed for the prestigious Encore Prize, is a story that will be heard far beyond the borders of Read More
Readers familiar with Bernard MacLaverty’s novels know that he is a deft and sensitive chronicler of his native Ireland – particularly of “The Troubles”, but also of more personal troubles. Collected Stories draws from five published collections, arranged chronologically from Secrets (1977) to the most recent, Matters of Life and Death (2006).In what is arguably Read More