Jane Swanson has been putting words on paper and creating imaginary worlds since childhood. For many years she worked as an archaeologist, uncovering hidden narratives from deep beneath the ground, and later as a teacher, sharing her love of stories and writing with young children. She writes short stories, creative non-fiction, and reviews of fiction Read More
Kai Durkin has been a university student for the past 5 years, and likes to pretend they didn’t exist before that. They completed their undergrad in English and Creative Writing, and their MLitt in Writing Practice and Study, at the University of Dundee. They enjoy writing in a variety of mediums, but they especially love Read More
A 36-year-old queer working-class migrant arrives on the Isle of Wight and gets a job with best friend Shae in a trashy hotel with an absent boss and equally hard to pin down wages. Attempts to gain citizenship amidst the Brexit chaos are constantly thwarted, UKIP supporters lurk on street corners, and an alcoholic parent Read More
Sue Whisler is a writer of short fiction, memoir and poetry. Much of her work is influenced by observations made throughout a career in social work, community development and advocacy. As a political activist and feminist, her special areas of interest are discrimination and prejudice; mental health and well-being; trauma; grief and social isolation and Read More
Amy Arnold’s novel Slip of a Fish is an exuberant exploration into whether language can be trusted to convey meaning; the protagonist, Ash, collects words as a way of coping with the confusion they cause her, whilst Arnold’s own inventive literary styling gradually exposes this complex inner mind to readers. Abbott says there’s no need, Read More
The Man Who Saw Everything is Deborah Levy’s seventh novel and her third, along with Swimming Home and Hot Milk to be nominated for the Man Booker Prize. Levy has also written plays and short stories, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. The novel’s protagonist, Saul Adler, narrates two separate incidents Read More
Twenty four years of marriage and two children might make everyday conversations mundane, unless the object of these discussions is somebody else’s life. Following an unnamed couple, Main documents their lives through short dialogues, each beginning with ‘Good day?’. It quickly becomes apparent that both parties are hiding more than they would be willing to Read More
Mark Haddon is best known for his 2003 bestseller, The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-time. The Porpoise is his fifth novel for adults and it begins with a tragic accident; a light aircraft collides with a grain silo. Philippe, a wealthy businessman loses his pregnant wife in the crash, but his baby Read More
There is a curious quality to Todd Phillips’ Joker. Since release the film has been dissected ad nauseum, striking a chord with the popular consciousness and sticking in the mind like a cinematic earworm. Unfortunately, despite its commercial success, the film has firmly missed the mark. Clearly, a lot of talented people worked on Read More
‘No earth move, no jolt, just empty whisper’. Not all fault lines cause violent eruptions. Often the plates do not collide but slowly shift, causing imperceptible change, yet over time, creating powerful new landscapes with small movements. Tracy Farr’s elegant and pensive novel, The Hope Fault, honours the force of the fault lines that run Read More